Runs In My Veins
by TinyTiger28
Summary: Deku is a normal kid with a normal life. Well, at least for living in a post apocalyptic zombie world. Then again, after the big bite, he wasn't even normal for a zombie world. What is the big bite though? And why is Kacchan talking to Deku without cussing! Rated T for blood/gore and Kacchan(Language) Post apocalyptic/zombie BNHA AU!
1. Beginnings

**Author's note**

Just so everyone knows, in this AU the zombie incident happened three months before the first episode of the anime, meaning that most of the stuff that happened in the anime never is going to happen in this universe, aside from Bakugo bullying Deku. Okay, with that out of the way, LEZ GO!

* * *

It all started one year ago. The day that everything changed. The first that I heard of it was over the TV. There was a news channel going on about it. How a lab had exploded and spread a strange green gas.

A few days passed with no news about it, and signals from the area stopped completely. Then someone picked up a message that was sent from the area that the lab had exploded in by radio. It got released to the public, and what it said terrified me.

* * *

Someone is breathing hard, heaving as if every breath would be their last.

Then they spoke. It was a terrified whisper, full of desperation and pain.

"If you're hearing this, run. Run and never look back. There... There was an accident in the lab. It spread this creepy green gas and some people breathed some of it. The next day they went insane. They- They started attacking everyone in sight and killing them. They were like vampires or something, sucking blood out of people like it was some tasty treat. It seems that their bloodlust worsens the more people's blood they drank, but they will eat the blood of other things without any negative affects. The disease seems to be spread by blood and saliva, meaning that if the infected's blood or saliva gets in your mouth, nose, or bloodstream, you'll get infected to. And-"

Another voice broke in, sounding strained. "The voices. They're talking to me again."

"It's okay Washi. Stay with me. Don't listen to the voices." The first voice said soothingly.

Another voice broke in, sounding gruffer than the other two. "She's been screaming about the voices for days. She's going to turn on us, just like all the others. And you saw her drinking Kyata's blood. She's lost it, we need to kill her."

"We can't kill her! She'll be fine, she just needs h-" The voice was cut off by a yell. After that there was nothing understandable left, just screams. A few seconds later the recording shut off.

* * *

After that, all hell broke loose. The infection started spreading farther and farther, and it quickly reached Musutafu. They broke into the house and... I watched my mom get eaten right in front of my eyes. I managed to escape through the fire escape. A month or two went by, and I found Kacchan. Well, more like he found me...

He was rustling through an abandoned convenience store, but all of the non-perishable food had been taken. _Almost like someone has already been here..._

As if the thought has summoned the mysterious survivor, Deku felt an explosion go off right behind his head. "Who are you?!" An angry voice roared. Not just any angry voice. A familiar angry voice.

"Ka-Kacchan?! It's me!" Deku yelped as he spun around to face him.

"Deku?" Kacchan said, staring at Deku as if he had just sprouted another head. Deku flinched at his name, but nodded anyway. "You're alive? I thought all of the survivors were gone already."

"G-Gone? Gone where?" Deku asked, gulping.

"Either died, or the stronghold up north. It's about twenty six miles from here, called Steelstar, or something like that." Kacchan replied, but Deku just stared at him as if he had just started speaking French.

"What's a-"

"Don't tell me you don't know what a stronghold is."

Deku froze. "Ehhh, but I don't..."

"How did you miss all the radio alerts about them!?" Kacchan roared.

"I- I don't have a radio!"

"Why don't you- ugh, whatever. Strongholds are places people made that are defended against zombies by a group of people that live there. Like a shelter, but with a lot more people." Kacchan reluctantly explained.

"And you're heading towards one?" Deku asked.

"I'm going to, but I need to gather supplies first."

"Oh..." Deku paused for a moment. "C-Can I come with you?" He asked hesitantly.

"Why do you want to come with me?" Kacchan asked, sounding offended.

"I- I just- I can't defend myself against z-zombies because I don't have a quirk and I can't fight and I-" Deku rambled.

"Okay, okay, I get it. Shut up already." Kacchan growled. "You can come with me... but only because you would die if I left you. This does NOT make us friends."

Deku nodded gratefully. "Thank you, Kacchan! Thankyouthankyouthankyou-"

"SHUT UP!"

* * *

We ended up surviving together for a week or two. We actually made quite the team. I would be the distraction and Kacchan would kill the zombies from behind. It was pretty tense between us, but we learned to get over it. Eventually it became a daily occurrence for Kacchan to not cuss at me every other sentence for at least five minutes, which was a major improvement. Of course, that was thrown out the window when the big bite happened...

Deku was standing outside of the grocery store that Kacchan and him were taking supplies from. "Do I have to do this, Kacchan? We have plenty of supplies already, and I don't want to get infected." He complained into his radio.

Kacchan's voice crackled over the radio back at him. "I told you already, we don't have any gasoline! Which, if you didn't notice, we kind of need to drive a car!"

"Do you even know how to drive a car?" Deku retorted.

"It can't be THAT hard. Besides, it's not like I have to follow traffic laws! Just get your sorry butt into that store and get the zombies out you damn nerd!" Bakugo roared.

Deku sighed. "Alright." He threw open the door and yelled into the darkness. "Hey, rotting corpses! Over here!" Deku began to shake with fear as ominous growls echoed from within the store. Shadows of movement stirred within it. Out of no where a zombie leapt at Deku.

Deku screamed and darted out of the door, followed by two more zombies. "Kacchan! Kacchan!" He shouted. "Little help?!"

Suddenly he heard a sharp thud behind him. Pivoting around, Deku saw Kacchan explode two zombies away, and pinned the other. He held his hand next to the zombie's face, about to explode it. Deku stared at the zombie's face, which looked no different than a human's. In fact, aside from slightly tattered clothes and the glowing red eyes, the zombie looked exactly like a human, just as all zombies did. Gulped, Deku turned away and covered his eyes as he heard a loud boom sound.

Kacchan stood up and entered the store. Ignoring the corpses, Deku followed him. "Have you ever wondered why their blood is like that?" Deku asked.

"Like what?" Kacchan growled, throwing cans from a shelf into his backpack.

"Y'now. Inky black." Deku continued awkwardly.

"Don't know, don't care." Kacchan hissed. Deku dropped the subject, instead choosing to search through the store for any gasoline canisters. He was about to ask Kacchan another question, when he glanced upwards and realized there was a zombie directly behind him.

"Kacchan! Look out!" Deku shouted leaping towards the zombie. Kacchan whirled around to do something, anything, but the zombie was already diving towards him, teeth bared. Before it could actually hit Kacchan, Deku flew in between the two. Kacchan stared in horror at Deku as time seemed to slow down. Inch by inch the zombie grew closer to Deku, and it's teeth sunk into his shoulder.

Deku fell to the ground, taking the zombie along with him. Before the zombie could do anything, Kacchan grabbed it's chest and set off an explosion. The zombie fell to the ground, dead.

"Ka-Kacchan..." Deku groaned. Kacchan whirled around to face Deku. "Kacchan my head hurts."

"You're gonna be okay, Deku." Kacchan growled. "You better be okay, you damn nerd!" He snatched Deku by the shoulders and shook him.

"Kacchan please stop." Deku groaned. "Please..." Deku blinked, feeling oddly drowsy, and his head hurt. So much. Like Kacchan had set off an explosion inside his mind. Kacchan released his grip of Deku's shoulders, allowing Deku to scramble to his feet.

As he straightened, Deku felt dizziness flood his limbs. His vision was turning blurry, so he blinked to try to clear it. It didn't fix his vision. "Kacchan I think I-" Deku began, but the words came out slurred. The world tilted to the side, then the other. Deku was tired. So tired.

He faintly felt himself fall to the side, but he was too tired to care. Deku was sinking into a comforting darkness, away from his splitting headache. Muffled words reached his ears, but Deku couldn't figure out what they wanted. He wished they would just let him sleep.

Darkness surged in at all sides, and suddenly the pain was gone.


	2. Promises

Kacchan scowled. "Deku you fucking idiot." He muttered under his breath. He grabbed the kid to move him away from the dead zombie corpse, which probably wouldn't be the best thing to wake up to in the morning.

He dragged Deku a few shelves over and placed him in a lying position on the floor. Kacchan winced as he looked at Deku, who was writhing in pain, even in his sleep. His skin was hot to the touch, and he kept feverishly muttering incoherent nothings.

Kacchan thought back to the announcements he had heard from the radio he heard before he had started traveling with Deku. _Okay, so he can stay sane and non-cannibalismy as long as he drinks blood that's not human or zombie. But where will I get blood? Hm, he should be able to hunt for blood himself, or at least, that's what the people from the strongholds led me to believe._ Kacchan sighed frustratedly. He hated the feeling that was creeping up on him. Helplessness. He was powerless to help Deku.

* * *

His head hurt. No, it didn't hurt. It burned. It ached. It was splitting apart at the seams. His head wasn't the only thing that hurt either. There was a stinging pain on his shoulder, sending stabs of pain down his entire arm every two seconds. And his stomach. His stomach was the worst. It was exploding, but imploding at the same time. It felt as if his stomach was whirling around on a rollercoaster full of knives.

The pain is what kept him asleep. Somehow, deep in himself, he knew that when he woke up it would somehow hurt more. But he also subconsciously knew that he needed to wake up, so, despite wishing he could be asleep, his eyes fluttered open.

Immediately, Deku knew he was right about everything hurting more when he woke up. The pain in his skull increased tenfold, as if someone was grabbing his brain and digging their nails into it.

Deku groaned, blinking drowsily as his blurry vision righted itself. The minute it did, Deku wished it hadn't. There, standing in front of him with his hand held out and aimed at Deku's head, was Kacchan.

At seeing Kacchan, the nausea in Deku's stomach exploded. Bile rose in the back of his throat, and Deku turned to the side and wretched. Kacchan jumped backward, almost as if he was scared of Deku. _Hah. Kacchan scared of me? Impossible._ Deku thought drowsily.

He coughed up the rest of the bile, which settled his stomach. Deku opened his eyes again, and jumped backward in terror. It was scarlet red. He had just thrown up blood. _Ohmygodohmygodohmygod I just barfed up blood._ The thought swept around in the river of his mind for a few seconds, but it was quickly replaced with a feeling of hunger.

No, not hunger, thirst. Thirst for something living. Something living that he could kill. That he could feel the heartbeat of as it slowed it's relentless beating. And to have blood. Pouring down his throat and into his stomach, ending this terrible splitting headache.

Deku turned to Kacchan. _Kacchan is alive. Kacchan is meat. Kacchan has blood._ He thought. _No! No! I can't take Kacchan's blood! But maybe... just a little..._

Kacchan met Deku's hungering stare with a cool glare. He scowled, then pushed something towards Deku with his foot. At first Deku thought it was was a heap of fur, but as he inhaled he smelled something sweet. And it was coming from the scorched heap of fur.

His brain dimly registered that the scorched heap of fur was a raccoon, but the only thing Deku cared about was that this creature had blood. Sweet, sweet blood. Deku dove forward and bit the raccoon, not caring that he only got a mouthful of fur. He sunk his teeth farther into he raccoon and pulled backwards, ripping off a chunk of flesh.

And there it was. Gold. Liquid gold flowing from the creature. Deku drank as much as he could get to, not caring about the bloodstain slowly forming around his mouth. And it was sweet. Deliciously sweet. Everything blended into a blur or sweet fulfillment. Deku's headache slowly began to fade as he drank more of the sweet liquid. The life sustaining liquid. Only once Deku had drained the raccoon of all of it's blood did he regain consciousness of what he was doing.

Deku recoiled immediately, scooting backwards from the raccoon corpse as fast as possible. His breath quickened, as did his heartbeat, or perhaps both had already been going quickly and Deku had not noticed in his blood frenzy. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kacchan staring at him with fear and awe clashing on his face.

Deku gulped, swallowing down the bile that threatened to rise in his throat. He stared at the raccoon for a moment, before finally processing what he just did. "D-Did I just-"

"Yes." Kacchan answered before Deku could even finish his question. "You fucked up zombie moron."

For some reason, Kacchan's words sparked a feeling of rage in Deku. "Shut up or I'll freaking rip your arm off."

Kacchan paused, giving Deku a worried glance. "You feeling okay, Deku?"

"Considering I just turned into a zombie, I'm actually feeling pretty good." Deku replied.

"You seem a lot more irritable." Kacchan observed.

"Look who's talking." Deku snapped.

The two lapsed into silence for a long moment, but Deku broke it after a few minutes. "Sorry... it's just this is.. insane." Deku apologized, staring down at his hands.

Kacchan sighed frustratedly, pinching his nose in between two of his fingers, "No, it's fine, just... are you feeling any bloodlust right now?" He said after a pause.

Deku paused for a moment, trying to figure out if he was feeling any bloodlust. _Is the headache the bloodlust? Is that what a bloodlust feels like?_ He thought. _I_ _do feel a little bit of a headache, but it's just a little bit. Probably nothing to worry about._ Deku decided. "I think a little bit, but it's easy to ignore." Deku admitted.

He returned his gaze to Kacchan, meeting eyes with him. "Kacchan.. are you scared of me?" He asked. "I mean, I wouldn't blame you. I'm practically scared of myself right now. And I did just eat a raccoon..."

Kacchan stayed silent for a moment, mulling over the question in his mind. Eventually he spoke, "No. I know that you never want to hurt anyone, and that you have never wanted to hurt someone. Some stupid bloodlust won't change that."

Deku sighed with relief. "Thanks Kacchan."

"That, and I know that you're a wimp."

"I retract my previous statement."

"Can you stand up?" Kacchan asked.

"Yeah, I think so."

"Good. Then go get the raccoon blood off of your face. You look like a maniac." Kacchan growled, turning to stare away from the raccoon corpse.

Deku nodded and pushed himself to his feet. He stretched, feeling lighter than usual. Taking in a deep breath, he smelled the dust that had settled on the shelves of the store. Though it wasn't just dust that he smelled. He could smell the stink of the rotting apples fifteen shelves away, mingling with the crisp scent of old air fresheners. There was the savory tang of canned beans in the air, along with the metallic snap of the cans. Though, the most startling smell was the sweet smell. A mouthwatering smell generating from Kacchan. A primal instinct screamed at Deku to kill Kacchan. Rip him open and take the sweetness for himself.

"You sure you're alright?" Kacchan asked Deku, startling him out of his thoughts.

"Uh, yeah. Why?" Deku asked nervously.

"Your eyes just flashed red." Kacchan answered grimly.

This sent a shudder down Deku's spine. _Red eyes. That's what the zombies who've lost it have. Wait.. no, chill out Deku. Sane zombie's eyes flash red when they get mad or their bloodlust spikes up. This is perfectly normal. I am normal. Normal for a zombie, at least._

"Y'now, it's really creepy when you mutter like that Deku." Kacchan growled. "Now get your butt into the bathroom and wash the blood off of your face."

Deku nodded guiltily and made his way towards the bathroom. As he pushed open the door he saw his reflection in a mirror above the sinks. He looked perfectly normal. Green eyes, messy green hair, worried look on his face. The only thing that was different was that he had a scarlet red stain marking his mouth. Kacchan was right, it made him look like a maniac.

He headed towards the sink and turned it on. Water gushed out of it, and the sound echoed around the bathroom. To Deku, it could've been a waterfall from the sound it was making. 'Increased hearing ability. Another side effect of being a zombie.' He reminded himself. He dipped his hands under the water and splashed some of it onto his face, rubbing away the stain on his mouth.

Deku looked back into the mirror, checking to see if all of the blood was gone. That's when he felt something jabbing the inside of his mouth. He opened his mouth to examine what the sharp thing was, and was startled to find that his canines were elongated. Not so much that it was very noticeable, but there still was a change. They were also pointier. _Guess that's something else I'll have to get used to. Man, it's weird being a zombie. I wonder if this is what having a quirk is like._

Shrugging, Deku left the bathroom and met back up with Kacchan, when suddenly something occurred to him. "Are we still going to the stronghold?" He asked nervously.

"Course we are. Insane zombies will gladly rip up a sane idiot like you within seconds." Kacchan growled.

"Well, not if I 'assert my dominance', or whatever that broadcast said..."

"Deku, you couldn't assert your dominance if your life depended on it."

A flash of anger shot through Deku, but he sighed, knowing that Kacchan was right. "But what about my bloodlust?"

"As I said before, you would never hurt anyone. As long as you drink enough blood from animals, you should be good." Kacchan assured Deku.

"Will they even let a zombie into the stronghold?" Deku asked weakly.

"Well... they don't have to know that they're letting a zombie into their stronghold." Kacchan pointed out, smirking.

Deku nodded, hoping that he could keep his true identity a secret in a place like that. He paused thoughtfully for a moment, staring off into space. "Kacchan... will you promise me something?" He asked, his voice dropping into a deadly serious tone.

"What?" Kacchan growled.

"If I lose control and am about to hurt someone-"

"You're not going to lose control."

"IF I do... will you kill me?" Deku continued, turning his gaze to stare directly at Kacchan.

"If it'll make you shut up."

"Promise."

Kacchan gulped. He paused for a long, tense moment, then reluctantly replied, "I promise."


	3. Friendships

Over the next few weeks, I learned more about the laws of being a zombie. Don't get me wrong, these laws are not like human laws. They are not something you rationally think about. They are not something you write down on a piece of paper and teach people about. They are instinct. Rules set in stone by the disease itself.

Most of these laws are in regards to how zombies interact with one another. They seem to work relatively like a wolf pack. A zombie would display their dominance with their body language. The more you looked like you knew what you were doing, the more others thought you did. Weak body language meant a weak zombie.

Of course, body language wasn't the only factor in this. Occasionally, a zombie would challenge another. There was nothing formal about this, it would just be a primal rage. Whoever won the fight was clearly the stronger zombie. And I, being myself, had to learn this the hard way...

Deku was getting used to his new zombified body. Or, more like his zombified mind. Strange pulls to do things. Instincts to sniff the air here, and to snarl at an aggressive zombie there. Usually these instincts were easily ignored, but when it came to other zombies, they seemed to grow stronger.

Which is probably why he was so reluctant to go into the infested building. "Kacchan! They'll tear me apart!"

"They won't. And even if they do, you need to practice defending yourself." Kacchan retorted.

"I don't think this is a recommended was to learn how to fight!" Deku protested nervously.

"You'll be fine! You're practically immortal now!" Kacchan growled.

"Yeah, but they can still stop my heart! Or give me brain damage! And that doesn't mean I WANT to get injured! It will still hurt!"

"Get over it, you wimp. You need to be able to be near other zombies without getting beaten to a pulp, and, if you haven't noticed, there are't any sane zombies around that can help us with that right now. Besides, there's only four in there. If you're in trouble, I can jump in and save your sorry ass."

"Is it depressing that that's the most friendly thing you have ever said to me?"

"Not from my perspective."

Deku sighed in defeat. "Fine, I'll go in." He grumbled. As he headed towards the door he muttered, "If I get killed, I'm blaming you." under his breath.

"I heard that!" Kacchan roared.

"Good!" Deku shot back, throwing open the door to the building. "Hey zombozos, look who's here!" He called.

"Probably not the best way to introduce yourself." Kacchan observed.

"Shut up before I bite you." Deku snarled, his eyes flashing red for a moment.

"Tch, alright Moody." Kacchan growled.

Taking a deep breath, Deku entered the building. He sniffed the air, and smelled the sharp tang of other zombies. Immediately his instincts flared up. Deku's eyes shone bright red, and the flash was answered by the glowing pairs of eyes from four more zombies. All of them were snarling.

This set Deku's instincts spinning out of control. These zombies were challenging him. They thought they were stronger then him. Instinct made him return their snarl, and his lip lifted involuntarily to show one of his fangs.

The other zombies did not take kindly to this. They began to advance towards Deku, snarling loudly. Instinct once again kicked in to help Deku. His posture straightened and he held his head higher. His lip rose, baring his teeth threateningly. It set a clear message. Back off, or else.

This made the zombies hesitate. They paused, staying a few feet away from Deku. One zombie advanced forward, baring his teeth and snarling even louder than before. Deku snarled back.

Before he could react, the zombie leapt towards him. Deku's instincts shot through him, telling him to fight back. He had no qualms about this. The zombie grabbed his arm and began to scratch it mercilessly. Growling, Deku wrenched his arm out of the zombie's grip. He dove forward and bit down into it's leg. As his teeth sunk in, he pressed as hard as he could, and tore his head away from the zombie, ripping a large chunk out of it's leg.

The zombie roared in anger as inky black blood poured from the wound. It tried to stand, but it's leg refused to support it. Deku backed away from the creature, watching as it struggled to stand up with no avail. The other three zombies scrambled away from Deku, who was clearly not someone to be trifled with.

Deku panted, feeling himself slowly come down from the adrenaline high. Slowly his eyes turned from glowing red back to emerald green. His arm was throbbing with pain. Scowling, Deku took some deep breaths, trying to calm his instincts. A few minutes later he strode towards the door, snarling at any zombies that got within a few feet of him.

"That sounded like it went well." Kacchan commented sarcastically.

"Could've been worse." Deku panted, still feeling tired. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kacchan toss him something. Instincts made his hand shoot out and snatch it from the air. A roll of gauze.

"Well, at least your reactions have improved." Kacchan observed. "You're gonna have to patch yourself up though. I don't really want to get infected."

Deku nodded solemnly. He tore of a long strip of gauze and wrapped it around his scratched arm. The scratched didn't go very deep, but he didn't want to get any blood on anything and risk infecting Kacchan. He wasn't sure he could deal with a zombified Kacchan.

"Your mouth is covered in blood to. What were you doing in there, eating eachother?" Kacchan growled.

"Close. One of them attacked me and I tore a chunk out of it's leg. The thing couldn't get up after that." Deku explained.

"Can you go ONE day without getting in a fight with a zombie?" Kacchan complained.

Deku scowled. "Apparently not." He grumbled, glancing down at his legs, which were bandaged up similarly to his arm. He had gotten them injured in multiple different fights earlier that week when he yawned and pissed off some zombies because they could see his fangs.

"Hey, at least didn't all attack you today. That's improvement."

"Yeah.. I guess."

* * *

Heh. The first month was the worst. I had to learn the laws, and how to ignore my instincts. And even then, there were times I needed to pay attention to my instincts for my own safety.

And the sleeping was pretty annoying to. You see, zombies get their energy from blood, which is why we drink it. The only problem is, blood doesn't provide as much energy as the human body is used to getting, so we get tired faster than most humans. I could've just drank more blood, but animals were a bit hard to come by in the city. I couldn't even count how many times I passed out in the first few months. Eventually my body got used to it, but it was pretty rough for a long time.

Of course, being on the road really didn't give me much time to hunt. In fact, I never really hunted. Kacchan usually would end up finding a rat or a raccoon and he would kill it and give it to me. I did learn to hunt eventually, but it took practice. A lot of practice.

Why were we on the road? I thought it was obvious. We were heading to the stronghold. We set off a few days after the big bite. Though, it didn't go smoothly. Nothing goes smoothly when Kacchan and I are involved...

Kacchan scowled. Deku was snoozing away in the seat next to him, as he did quite often these days. He was leaning against the window, a small trail of drool coming out of his mouth.

 _Ugh. He's gonna get someone infected sleeping like that._ Kacchan thought grumpily to himself. It was getting dark out, meaning the zombies would be more active. He pulled over into a gas station, clumsily parking in front of the building.

"Ey, sleeping beauty. Wake up." Kacchan growled, shaking Deku's shoulder.

Deku stirred drowsily. He blinked blearily, glancing around confusedly. "Ngh. My head hurts..." Deku groaned.

"Yeah. I know. Didn't you store some blood in that water bottle?" Kacchan asked, gesturing to a water bottle that was sitting in the cupholder in the car.

"I think so..." Deku mumbled tiredly. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes, and he pushed himself upwards from his sitting position. Yawning, he grabbed the water bottle and gulped in some of the blood within it. His headache disappeared quickly, though the blood didn't taste as sweet as usual. "Ugh jeez, it tastes stale."

Kacchan snorted. "And what does stale blood taste like?"

Deku paused for a moment, considering the question. "Dusty lollipops." He stated in a matter of fact voice.

"Yeah, yeah. Would you mind going in there and checking for zombies?" Kacchan asked.

Deku sniffed the air, taking in the scents around him. There was the sweetness coming from Kacchan, along with the sting of nitroglycerin. There was also a gassy tang in the air, and the savory smell of beef jerky inside the store. "There aren't any zombies. I would be able to scent them if there were."

"Alright. You set up inside, I'll go get your.. er, meal. Though, you seriously need to learn how to hunt by yourself." Kacchan grumbled.

Deku sighed. "I mean, I could try to-"

"No. If you fail miserably, then we'll have to stay extra long at this rest stop." Kacchan growled. "I can do it myself."

"Alright. Thanks." Deku called as Kacchan turned and stalked off into the streets. Deku grabbed two sleeping bags that he had stolen at a camping store out of the trunk of the car. He dragged them behind him as he headed towards the store.

Pushing open the door, Deku dragged the two sleeping bags into the store. As he dropped them on the floor, Deku heard something that sounded suspiciously like footsteps. He sniffed the air, and smelled something sweet, but it wasn't accompanied by the sting of nitroglycerin. _That's not Kacchan..._

As the thought hit him, Deku heard the footsteps behind him. He whirled around, just as someone's hand shot out and slapped his arm. Deku quickly registered that it was a girl, and definitely not a zombie. His instincts screamed at him to attack her, and it took all of his willpower not to leap forward and bite into her throat. Luckily he didn't have to hold in his instincts for too long, because he started flying into the air.

Deku shut his eyes tightly, trying to calm his raging instincts. _She's not a threat. Just a human. Just a human._ He told himself. Of course his bloodlust wanted him to drink her blood, but he had just had a drink a few minutes earlier, so it was weak.

He opened his eyes. Before him stood a scared looking girl with brown hair. "W-Who are you?!" She yelped.

"I'm Izuku Midoriya! Me and my friend were stopping here for the night because-"

"Where is your friend?!"

"He's searching for food! Please don't hurt me!" Deku yelped, seeming to shrink. 'Or, more like, please don't hurt me and make me go full zombie on you against my will...'

The girl paused for a moment. She sighed and Deku felt himself drop to the floor. "Ow..." Deku groaned, rubbing his head. "Who are you?"

"Ochaco Uraraka." Uraraka replied.

"Are you heading to the stronghold?"

"What stronghold? The nearest one is seventy five hundred miles away."

"No. Recently they constructed on twenty miles up north. Me and my friend are driving there now from Musutafu. We started this morning."

"It took you an entire day to travel five miles?"

"Yeah... we got interrupted by some zombies..." Deku explained. It was half of the truth. They were interrupted by zombies, but were only delayed because Kacchan had asked him to clear them off of the street. He ended up getting in a fight and passing out, and Kacchan had to save him. He had to give Deku first aid, and then replace the tires, since the zombies and managed to break them open. It took most of the day to find replacement tires.

Uraraka nodded. "Zombies can be jerks."

Deku cringed inwardly at those words. "Heh. Yeah."

Uraraka paused for a moment, then asked, "Do you think I could come with you to the stronghold?"

"I'm sure Kacchan won't mind." Deku replied.

"Thanks for agreeing for me." Kacchan growled. Deku jumped, startled. "I need to take my friend for a moment." He hissed, grabbing Deku by the arm and practically dragging him out of the store.

When they exited Deku winced, rubbing his arm. "You could've at least tried to avoid the injured arm." He growled, trying to calm his raging instincts.

"Yeah, yeah. I get it, you're a wimp. Now we need to talk about that girl. Who the heck is she and why did you just agree to bring her with us?"

"She's just a girl! Her name is Ochaco Uraraka and she needs help getting to the stronghold. We're only going to be driving for a day, so it shouldn't be too bad." Deku protested.

"Yeah, but she could find out-"

"Everyone could find out. We're going to a freaking stronghold. It's going to be full of people who can find out! Are we seriously going to leave someone behind just because she could find out?!"

Kacchan sighed. "Fine, she can come along. But your sitting in the front seat with me."

"Sure... but why?" Deku asked, sounding confused.

"You drool in your sleep and I don't want you infecting her." Kacchan growled.

Deku blushed. "Oh god. Are you kidding me?" He asked miserably.

"Nope." Kacchan said, smirking. He threw open the door to the store and shouted, "Hey! We've decided! You can come with us!"

Uraraka's voice called from within the store, "Thanks!"

Deku turned to Kacchan and whispered, "Do you.. uh, have the thing?"

"Yeah. It's in your water bottle." Kacchan answered. Deku nodded.

Deku yawned, feeling tired. He face planted into his sleeping bag, snoring. Kacchan facepalmed. It was going to be a long drive tomorrow, and not distance wise.


	4. Arrival

Deku yawned, stretching. He felt as if his whole body was buzzing with energy. He glanced out the window, trying to gauge what time it was. The sun was just barely rising in the sky, sending light bouncing off the windows of the skyscrapers outside.

 _Oh. It's morning._ Deku realized. _But really early._ He thought. Though, it was to be expected that he would wake up early every morning. Zombies were mostly crepuscular, or at least took a rest in the middle of the day.

Deku glanced to his side. Kacchan and Uraraka were both fast asleep on the floor. He desperately wanted to do something. To be moving, and using the energy shooting around in his limbs, but he couldn't bring himself to wake them up. His bloodlust burned at the back of his brain, bur Deku forcefully ignored it.

Shrugging, Deku rummaged through the store, and found a pencil and some sticky notes. He jotted down a few sentences and stuck the note to Kacchan's face. Then he left the store.

Deku immediately started running. He didn't know where he was running to, only that he was. Smells flew past his face as his own footsteps echoed in his ears. It felt amazing.

A sudden tantalizing smell wafted through the air. The smell of something alive. Subconsciously, Deku altered his course to follow the smell. His footsteps slowed and hit the ground softly as he neared the creature. After further investigation, Deku found the creature. A cat.

The cat had it's back turned to him, giving Deku the perfect chance to pounce on it. With silent footsteps, he approached the cat within jumping distance. Then he leapt. The cat struggled, but not for long. Deku sunk his teeth into it's scruff and and wrenched it to the side, breaking the cat's neck. He sunk his teeth his farther, and a sweet taste hit his mouth. He had just broke open the jugular.

Deku spent the next few minutes draining the cat. When he finished, he wiped the blood off of his face with the sleeve of his hoodie. The hoodie was black, so the blood didn't show up much. He kicked the cat corpse under a nearby dumpster. Then he turned and began running again.

* * *

Kacchan's eyes flew open, and were met with something hot pink. He ripped it off of his face, and realized that it was a sticky note. Flipping it over, he recognized Deku's small, neat writing. _Went out to grab some stuff. Be back soon. - Deku_

Kacchan sighed and crumpled up the note. He threw it to the side, causing a soft crinkling sound as it hit the floor. This seemed to be enough to awaken Uraraka next to him.

She jolted awake and rubbed her eyes. Blinking drowsily, she glanced to her right, then her left. "Where's..err, what was his name? Oh, yeah! Where's Deku?"

"Went out to grab some stuff." Kacchan explained.

Uraraka nodded. "When will he be back?"

"Eh, probably in a few minutes." Kacchan said, shrugging. Just then, a bell rang, announcing someone's entrance into the store. "Speak of the devil." Kacchan muttered.

"Hi guys! I brought some beans!" Deku called cheerily. He threw two cans of beans, one at Kacchan and one at Uraraka. Kacchan caught his can of beans with a calm precision. Uraraka's flew past her and hit the shelf behind her. Deku walked and picked up the can, handing it to Uraraka. "Sorry. I guess I... spilled the beans."

"Oh god, Deku. Please no." Kacchan groaned.

Uraraka laughed. A cute little twinkly laugh. Deku beamed. "Kacchan is only grumpy cause he's a zombie in the morning."

"Alright, we get it. You're punny. Now get your butt into the car, and if I hear one more pun I will literally pick you up and throw you out the window." Kacchan growled.

"Pun." Deku said, wearing a poker face.

"That's it, you're dead!" Kacchan roared. He got up and chased after Deku, who ran for his life.

"Ahh! Kacchan! No, please! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Noooo!" Deku yelped as Kacchan grabbed him and started giving him a noogie. "Kacchan! Please stop! Seriously!" Deku said, his voice lowering to a growl.

Kacchan caught a glint of red in his eye, and released Deku. Deku paused, panting for a moment as he tried to keep his instincts under control. "I'm gonna go get some air." Deku mumbled, heading towards the door.

Deku sighed, breathing in the outside air. He shoved his face into his hands, groaning. "Stupid freaking instincts." He mumbled under his breath. He grabbed his water bottle and swallowed a few gulps from it, calming his instincts slightly.

A bell rang next to him, announcing that someone had left the shop. Deku turned and saw Kacchan. He began to speak, "Are you-"

"I'm fine." Deku growled. "Just... start the car."

Kacchan sighed and entered the car. He started messing with some of the wires, trying to jump start it. "Go get the girl." Kacchan growled. Deku sighed and nodded.

He entered the store and called out towards Uraraka. "We're starting the car. Let's get going!"

Uraraka walked up next to Deku, giving him a suspicious look. "What was that all about?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What was what about?" Deku asked, nervousness rising in his chest.

"That. Right when you 'needed air' and took a swig from your mysterious water bottle."

"I just... er well... I have... anxiety!" Deku lied. "A-And the water bottle has.. er, medication in it. Which is also why I get sorta... uh, sleepy."

"Oh." Uraraka said, startled. "Uh, sorry." She apologized. "I just though it was something bad.. like.. uh-"

"No. It's fine." Deku replied. "Anyway, let's get going." He said, a heavy weight settling in his stomach. He hated lying to people. It always unsettled him.

As they exited the store, Kacchan scowled at them. "What took you two so long?"

"Deku was just.. er, spilling the beans." Uraraka explained.

Kacchan glared at Deku. "Spilling the beans?"

"Yeah. About my anxiety." Deku said pointedly, giving Kacchan a significant look.

"Ah. That." Kacchan said, nodding as if he knew exactly what they were talking about.

And soon we were on the road. It went pretty uneventfully, which is odd for Kacchan and I. I ended up sleeping for most of the trip, which is probably why I was so startled when I woke up...

Deku felt someone shaking his shoulder. "Mmmmmeh. Five more minutes..." He mumbled, clumsily slapping at the hand on his shoulder.

"Cmon. Wake up." A calm, masculine voice said.

 _Wait... calm? That's not Kacchan..._ Deku thought. It took a second to sink in. Suddenly, Deku's eyes flew open. "Who are you?! Where am I!? I'm armed! With only my arms, but still!" Deku yelped.

"You're fine." The voice said. Deku blinked, staring at the source of the voice. A teenager, about his age, with half white and half red hair. A large scar marked the right side of his face, where he had a bright blue eye. The other eye was dark brown.

Deku paused for a moment, trying to slow his rapid heartbeat. He took a deep breath, and glanced to his sides. Kacchan and Uraraka were standing outside of the car. Uraraka was holding back giggles, while Kacchan was facepalming.

"Oh. Sorry. But... uh, who are you?" Deku asked, feeling embarrassed.

"Shoto Todoroki." The half and half guy said. "I'm working the security gate here at Steelstar since the guy who usually works it got injured."

"Wait... Steelstar? We're here!" Deku said, pumping his fist in the air excitedly.

"Yeah... but you're going to have to exit the vehicle. I need to check for weapons." Todoroki said.

"Oh. Okay." Deku replied. He scooted out of the car, grabbing his water bottle as he did, and watched as Todoroki rummaged through it. He didn't seem to find anything dangerous, so he turned to the three people.

"And your quirks?" Todoroki asked.

Uraraka spoke up first. "I have zero gravity. I can make anything I touch float."

Todoroki nodded, and wrote this down on a notepad he was holding.

"Explosion quirk." Kacchan said, lifting his hand and making small explosions dance across it.

Todoroki scowled at this. "Alright..." He mumbled, jotting down some more things on his notepad. "And you?" He asked, turning to Deku.

Kacchan inhaled, as if he was going to tell them exactly what Deku's quirk was, which was nothing at all, but Deku spoke before he could. "Enhanced senses. Mainly smell and hearing." Kacchan sent him a questioning look, but Deku ignored it.

"Okay then, you can enter." Todoroki said. He grabbed a walkie talkie out of his pocket and spoke into it. "Clearing visitors for entrance." He said. The gate in front of them flew open. "You guys can drive your car in. Park in the clearing to the left. Someone'll meet you there."

Kacchan nodded. He got back into the car, closely followed by Uraraka and Deku. Deku plastered his face against the window, staring in wonder at the forest outside. The picked some place within a large forest to put their stronghold, most likely to keep away from the worst of the zombie population. And it smelled so amazing. Crisp green leaves, squirrels, and running water. It smelled so... alive.

Suddenly, Deku's bloodlust leapt upwards. A pain slowly working into the front of is mind. Deku took a quick drink from his water bottle, quenching his bloodlust. He glanced around the camp, realizing that there were thing happening everywhere. There was so much activity. From people tending to the chickens, to people fixing cars, there was activity everywhere.

 _So many people... how am I going to keep my bloodlust under control?_


	5. Lies

As Kacchan parked the car, two people walked out of what appeared to be the main building. They walked straight towards Deku, Kacchan, and Uraraka. One had exhaust pipes coming out of his calves, and the other had bubblegum pink hair with strange antenna poking out of it.

The pink one spoke first. "Hi! I'm Mina, and this is Iida! We get to show you around the stronghold!"

"Mina! We must asses if they're a threat or not first!" Iida yelled in his let's-all-follow-the-rules voice.

"Oh! Right! So, why'd ya come here?" Mina asked cheerily.

Kacchan seemed to be startled into silence with Mina's bubbly personality, because he didn't snap back. Uraraka answered instead. "We're here seeking shelter from the zombies."

"And we need to check if you guys are infected! Then we're done! Basically, you need to tell us how you got your injuries! Simple, right?" Mina continued.

Deku rubbed his bandaged arm self consciously. Under his shirt, the bite on his shoulder seemed to prickly uncomfortably. It had left a scar, marking his shoulder with the indentation of a mouth full of teeth. He was the only one there with any injuries, so he simply replied with, "I got mauled by a dog."

"Have you been exposed to any zombies since you got injured?"

"Only a few, but Kacchan exploded them out of the way before they could even get near me." Deku lied.

"Okay! Now can we show them around?" Mina asked, turned to Iida.

"You didn't... never mind." Iida said, sighing in defeat. "Yeah. Fine."

"Yay!" Mina cheered. "Okay, so that over there is the main housing unit! It has the cafeteria, med bay..."

Deku ended up getting bored and tuning Mina out. She led them around the Stronghold, showing them a number of places. Deku learned that a wall surrounded the entire facility. It was seven feet tall, made completely out of metal. Barbed wire was stuck on the top, preventing and zombies that got too ambitious with their break in attempts from getting very far. A deep trench was dug around the fence, preventing the zombies from getting very close to the wall without falling in. Deku had already figured out how he was going to get over it when the time came for hunting.

There was also the main building, commonly referred to as the "big house." It used to be a hotel, out in the wilderness for tourists in japan, but it now served as housing for most of the people at Steelstar stronghold. It also included the med bay, cafeteria, laundry area, weaponry, and the meeting room. Deku thought it was loud, and too crowded.

The rest of the buildings were shabbily improvised, and seemed liable to fall apart at any moment. They mostly were small shelters built for the farm animals kept in the stronghold, but there was a tool shed or two.

Eventually, they were led to the cafeteria, where Mina asked them to join her for lunch, ignoring Iida's exasperated protests. At this, Deku froze. _Zombies can't eat human food..._ He remembered, his stomach turning at the thought. But there wasn't really a believable excuse he could come up with. Even worse, there was a nagging pain in the back of his head. His bloodlust was slowly increasing as the group passed by more and more people.

Uraraka agreed before Deku could say anything. "Sure! Sounds fun!"

Deku just stayed silent and hoped he would be able to choke down the food. The food was served in buffet style in the dining area of the big house. Back when it was a hotel, it was probably a breakfast place for the guests. Mina led them through the food line, grabbing a tray as she did. Deku put as little food on his tray as possible, but one thing did catch his eye. Well, more like caught his nose.

A sweet scent, different than the blood sweet scent, but sweet nonetheless. Aside from smelling sweet, it had a savory tang to it, and something... nutty? Amazingly enough, it also seemed to make the pain in the back of his head disappear, and he could no longer smell the sweet scent of the blood surrounding him. Glancing at the source of the smell, Deku found that it was a jar of peanut butter.

Mina noticed his quizzical glance at the peanut butter, and explained, "Most of the food we have tastes terrible, and we don't have any ketchup or soy sauce to cover the taste, so the next best thing we have is peanut butter."

Deku nodded and scooped up a glob of it with a spork. He threw it on his plate. Perhaps this meal wouldn't go as badly as he thought it would. As they sat down at a table, Deku caught Kacchan glaring at him. Not the mad kind of glare, more like the 'don't even think about it' glare. Deku shrugged, and made a small gesture towards Mina and Uraraka, hoping Kacchan would understand that there wasn't much he could do.

Mina continued to talk to them, barely stopping to eat her food. Deku was surprised she didn't choke. He stayed silent, trying to keep the attention off of himself, and the fact that he wasn't eating anything. Unfortunately, he still got noticed.

"You're not eating anything. Aren't you hungry?" Mina asked, looking worried.

"Not really. I ate this morning." Deku replied, shrinking under Mina's gaze.

"You need to eat to keep your strength up." Iida protested. "Please, eat."

Deku nodded in defeat. He solemnly scooped some food up onto his spork, glancing upwards at Kacchan, who was giving him the ultimate 'don't do it' look. Deku dropped his gaze away from Kacchan, and shoveled the food into his mouth. He immediately wanted to gag, but stopped himself. The taste was revolting, like eating hair. If there ever was a time for instant regret, this was it. Then he swallowed. He continued to eat the food, hating every second of it.

Eventually he resorted to just eating the peanut butter, which tasted delicious. Sweet, but with a nice nutty taste. Uraraka noticed that he was eating plain peanut butter, and shot him a questioning glance. "Uhh, Deku? Why are ypu eating plain peanut butter?"

"I love peanut butter! You could say I'm... nuts for it." Deku replied, grinning.

"Oh god. Deku why?" Kacchan groaned.

Suddenly a man walked up to the group, steaming mad. He set Deku on edge, leaving him grappling with his instincts to stop his eyes from flashing red. His hair seemed to be made of fire itself, and he didn't seem to care that it was a fire hazard. "Ashido! Tenya!"

Mida and Iida both jolted up from their position at the table. "Endeavor, sir!" They both said in unison.

"Who are these people? Did you even screen them?!" Endeavor roared in anger. "Who authorized this!?"

A calm voice cut in. "I did." Deku glanced upwards, and saw the source of the voice to be the half and half kid from earlier. Todoroki. Endeavor inhaled, as if about to start yelling again, but Todoroki interrupted him. "Tokayami took over for me so I could eat lunch." He explained, predicting what Endeavor would ask.

"And why did you let these strangers in?" Endeavor growled, his flames rising in his anger.

"Multiple pros authorized it. Mt. Lady, Deatharms, and Eraserhead." Todoroki answered, his face not betraying any emotion.

"And have they been screened?" Endeavor growled, his flames rising higher still as he glared at Todoroki.

"Yes. Here are my notes." Todoroki replied, meeting Endeavor's glare with a cool gaze. He handed ripped off a few pages from his notepad and handed them to Endeavor.

Endeavor scowled, and glanced at the notes for a few seconds. "Put them in rooms three forty one and three forty two. Aizawa can deal with them later." He growled. Then he turned and left, his flames waving in his wake.

A silence fell over the table. Mina broke it, "That was so cool, Shoto!" She cheered, grinning broadly. "He was all like-" She made a comically grumpy face, "And then you were like-" She attempted to match Todoroki's emotionless stare. "Thanks!"

"No problem. I'm used to dealing with Endeavor." Todoroki replied. Then he simply turned around and headed towards the buffet line.

* * *

Deku sighed with relief. He lay on the bed in his room, exhaustion flowing into his limbs. Kacchan and him had been moved into a room together, which Kacchan was not excited about, to say the least.

They had moved in about two hours ago. Deku took advantage of the free time to sleep. Though, when he woke up he felt tired, slightly nauseous, and a little dizzy. Deku assumed it had something to do with his bloodlust and being near so many people.

He took a swig from his water bottle. It did nothing to remove the nausea and dizziness, but did dampen the headache that was building behind Deku's temples. Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

Deku got up, but Kacchan answered the door before he could get to it. Mina's voice broke through the silent peace in the room, "Hi Katsuki! I was wondering if you and Deku wanted to join us for today's patrol!"

"What patrol?" Kacchan asked, sounding annoyed.

"The border patrol! We do it to keep zombies away from the fence, and to kill the ones in the trench." Mina explained. "Wanna come?"

"Sure." Deku replied. Kacchan shot him a pissed off look. He smiled at Mina, then said, "Don't worry about Kacchan. He just has an explosive personality."

"One of these days, Deku..." Kacchan growled.

Mina grinned. "Yay! Let's get going!" She cheered, turning and sprinting down the hallway.

Deku followed behind her, and was suddenly startled by Todoroki. _Must be what Mina meant when she said, 'us'_ Deku thought. The teen unsettled him. Everything about him screamed danger to Deku, which set his instincts on edge. He forcefully pushed them to the back of his mind, trying to stop his eyes from flashing red.

They made their way out of the big house, and towards the fence. As they hit the border, Deku's nausea worsened. Dizziness flooded his head, forcing him to focus on staying on his feet. No one seemed to notice him lagging behind the group, or that he was swaying feverishly.

A few minutes passed as Deku plodded behind the group, but at some point he couldn't handle it anymore. It felt as if his entire was cloaked with fire, and bile rose in his stomach. He barfed, evicting disgusting goo out of his body. It suddenly occurred to Deku that he was barfing up human food, which was probably what was causing his nausea. He vaguely heard voices talking to him, and a hand on his shoulder, but couldn't tell which voice went to which person, and had no idea what they were telling him. Waves of dizziness slammed into Deku like tsunamis. He swayed, and hit the ground. He wretched again, his stomach now in turmoil.

Deku felt tired. So tired. Everything hurt. His head. His stomach. He was faintly aware of someone picking him up and moving him somewhere, but he didn't care who. He was just tired. The edges of his vision turned black, and closed in on themselves.

* * *

Kacchan sighed, staring at the passed out Deku on his bed. "Deku, this is why you don't eat human food, you fucking idiot."He growled under his breath. A knock at the door interrupted any further insults to Deku.

"What?" Kacchan growled, opening the door. Todoroki stood at the other side of the door, wearing his usual poker face.

"I was sent to bring some advil for Midoriya." Todoroki stated.

"Not gonna be very helpful. He's still knocked out." Kacchan pointed out.

"For when he wakes up."

"Whatever." Kacchan growled. "Just give me the advil then."

Todoroki handed Kacchan a few pills of advil, and watched as Kacchan turned and placed them on a night stand next to the bed. He shot Todoroki a glare and asked, "Shouldn't you be going?"

"I wanted to ask something." Todoroki replied. "Do you have any idea why he passed out? The med bay might have some medication that could prevent this happening again."

Kacchan froze, quickly thinking of a lie. "He already medication. It's in his water bottle. He must've just forgotten to drink it when he started getting nauseas."

"But what is the medication for?"

"Migraines. He gets really bad ones. Been a problem for a while, even before the zombie incident." Kacchan lied.

Todoroki nodded, taking this as a valid excuse. "Alright then. Bye." He said, turning and leaving. Kacchan closed the door behind him.

Yeah, it was a good lie... but not good enough. Sooner or later, someone was bound to find out, no matter what lies we told. Of course, I learned this the hard way.


	6. Rumors

In the days that passed, Kacchan and I made quite the names for ourselves. Me because I was extremely helpful on hunting missions, since I was able to track animals with ease due to my 'quirk'. Kacchan because... well, he's Kacchan. He managed to piss off five different people and get in two fights on the second day alone. I ended up being the person who had to break them up. Between people complaining about Kacchan, and asking me to go on hunting trips, I couldn't get a moment of peace...

Deku lay on his bed, tiredness weighing down on his eyes. It was noon, around the time he would usually be sleeping, but for the past few days he didn't have any time to. In fact, he could barely get even a wink of sleep at night either, having no other time to hunt for himself.

A knock at the door interrupted Deku's minute long nap. Yawning, Deku forced himself to get up and open the door. He was expecting Mina, asking for him to join her on a hunting patrol, or maybe Iida, here with another complaint about Kacchan's behavior. What he wasn't expecting was Todoroki.

"Er, how can I help you?" Deku asked nervously. He had barely seen the teen at all since the first day. Occasionally he joined them at hunts, and could be seen sitting at an isolated table in the corner of the cafeteria at mealtimes, but otherwise he was usually hidden from sight. The teen still set Deku on edge. He didn't know why, or how, but he did.

"Is Bakugo here?" Todoroki asked, his calm, emotionless face not revealing even a hint of his thoughts. Had he not worn the poker face, he would probably be looking concerned at Deku's sleepless state.

Deku laughed. "No. He left on a border patrol ten minutes ago. What trouble did he get himself into this time?"

"No. It's not that. I just wanted to ask you a question without any.. interference." Todoroki continued, the placid look on his face not relenting for a second.

Deku gulped, suddenly feeling nervous. After taking a second to make sure his eyes didn't glow, he hesitantly asked, "What's the question?"

"Did you think we wouldn't notice? The red eyes. The irritability..." Todoroki began.

 _This is it. They've found me out. I'm dead._ Deku thought, fear shooting through him.

"Bakugo is a zombie, isn't he?"

Had Deku been drinking water, he would've spit it out. Most likely directly at Todoroki's face. Luckily, he wasn't. He did, on the other hand, do a double take. Deku's eyes grew wide, and his jaw dropped open. He had figured out the truth, but had applied it to the wrong person. It was actually kind of funny.

"Is that a yes?" Todoroki asked.

Deku snorted. "No. Kacchan has naturally red eyes. Had em' since birth. And his personality... well, he's always been like that."

Todoroki paused, squinting suspiciously at Deku. He didn't appear to be lying, so Todoroki shrugged and accepted it as the truth. As he turned to leave, he shot Deku a look. "Good luck with him then. Also, get some sleep."

Deku sighed. "Way ahead of you there." He groaned, turning and face planting into his bed.

* * *

Deku's body was practically humming with energy. He was alive. The forest was alive, and, better yet, the creatures in the forest were alive. They called to him with every sound they made. The birds with their tweeting, the deer with crunching footsteps, and the squirrels with their endless chittering.

It was dusk, meaning it was time for Deku to hunt. He had climbed out of the window of his room, which was about six feet above the fence, and leapt to a nearby tree. After he had clambered down, he began to weave his way silently through the forest, instinctively stepping as softly as possible, and scenting the air for any game.

The scent of a nearby marten caught Deku's attention. He slowed his relentless run, crouching low to the ground and listening for any movement. A subtle rustle in the brush behind Deku alerted him to the marten's presence. Quick as a flash, Deku whirled around and leapt at the marten, swiftly breaking it's neck with a clean snap.

He made a neat cut on it's jugular with his tooth. Sweet blood filled his mouth, and he gulped it down. After a few minutes, he had completely drained the marten. Wiping the bloodstain off of his mouth, Deku stood up. Then, he disappeared into the shadows, on the hunt once again.

Hours later, a man kicked the marten over. "Completely drained. Clean break, and no evidence of any further damage." A cruel smile alighted the man's lips. "We've found ourselves a sane one."

* * *

Uraraka left the cafeteria, having just eaten lunch. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of red and white hair. Todoroki. He was staring directly at her, a suspicious glint in his eyes.

She sped up her walking, turning away from Todoroki. She somehow found herself walking towards the med bay in a mostly abandoned hallway, and that is where he cornered her.

"Uraraka." She heard directly behind her. Tensing she turned around to meet eyes with Todoroki.

"Err, hi Todoroki." Uraraka said, shrinking under his gaze. The suspicious glint in his eye was making her uncomfortable.

"You were with Midoriya and Bakugo before they came to the stronghold, right?" He asked.

"Only for a day, but yeah." Uraraka admitted reluctantly.

"Did you notice anything... odd about them?" Todoroki continued.

"Not really... I mean, I thought Deku was kinda odd at first, but then it turned out that he just used the water bottle to store medication." Uraraka rambled.

"Oh? Bakugo told you to?" Todoroki asked.

Uraraka tilted her head. Bakugo had told Todoroki? Odd. "No. Deku told me himself, but only because I asked."

"Ah. Makes sense." Todoroki mused.

"Yeah, having anxiety has gotta be hard." Uraraka said.

Todoroki froze. "Anxiety?"

"Erm, yeah. Didn't you just say Bakugo told you about it?" Uraraka asked, confused.

"He told me Deku had migraines." Todoroki replied, "And said nothing about anxiety."

"That's... suspicious." Uraraka replied, looking worried.

"Very."


	7. Insomnia

Deku rubbed his eyes, blinking groggily. He had barely gotten a wink of sleep for four days, which was weighing down on his ability to dampen his instincts. Every sound seemed amplified to the point of it hurting Deku's ears. Footsteps here, tapping there, everything pushed Deku as he tried to balance on the knife's edge of his instincts.

And the smells. The smells were worse. Everyone smells just so... sweet. Deku desperately wanted to rip them open and drink the liquid gold flowing in their veins. Fortunately, he had completely filled his water bottle, which was the one thing holding him together at the moment.

"Midoriya, I would appreciate it if you didn't fall asleep while I am teaching." Aizawa growled tiredly.

Deku shook himself. He had just fallen asleep leaning against a wall. "Sorry sir, won't happen again." He replied nervously.

Deku yawned. There were a million things he would rather be doing than attending a combat class, but it was required that the younger people in the stronghold do so. There was some kind of reason behind it, but Deku was too tired to care. It was most likely so that they didn't end up getting themselves killed on a hunting mission if they happened to encounter a zombie.

Aizawa had been showing them different combat moves for the past half an hour. It starting to get boring. Just as he finished showing them the fifteenth fighting move of the day, Aizawa announced that they were going to have some one on one matches. "So you with you. You with you." Aizawa began, pointing to random people. and pairing them up. Eventually he got to Deku. "And you with you." He said, pointing to Deku, then Todoroki.

Deku sighed. This was not going to be fun. Luckily, Todoroki was good at fighting. He would probably just freeze Deku up and win, and Deku wouldn't have to strain his instincts for too long. The first few matches passed uneventfully, though, Aizawa had to keep asking Deku to stay awake.

Then it was time for Deku's match. Yawning, Deku walking into the small ring in the center of the room that served as the arena. He desperately just wanted this to be over and done with. Todoroki calmly stepped into the circle beside Deku. Immediately, a cascade of ice shot forward and froze Deku's feet to the floor.

Deku halfheartedly tried to free himself from the ice, to no avail. Seconds later, his hands were frozen into a block of ice. Deku shivered, coldness seeping into his limbs. Every part of him hated this. He vulnerable, immobile, completely at the mercy of everyone nearby. His instincts screamed at him to do something, but there wasn't much he could do.

Aizawa called the match, ending it quickly. Todoroki placed his right hand on the ice block Deku was trapped in. It slowly began to melt, releasing Deku. Deku tugged his arms out of the ice block, followed by his legs. Rubbing his cold hands together, Deku felt a jolt of instinct. He wanted to attack Todoroki. Punish him for freezing him in the ice. Stop him from ever imprisoning him like that again. _No. Calm down Deku. It's your instincts talking, not rational thought._ Deku told himself, praying that his eyes had not betrayed the rush of instincts.

Nobody seemed to notice it, aside from Todoroki, who shot Deku a suspicious glance. _But he always looks like he's suspicious of something._ Deku reminded himself. 'He was looking away five seconds ago, so he was probably looking away when Deku had his eyes flash red.

Eventually class ended, and Deku began to make his way to his shared room with Kacchan. He was interrupted by Mina asking him if he wanted to join a hunting trip. Deku yawned, "Oh yeah, sure, sure." He said absentmindedly, rubbing his eyes.

Mina shot him a worried glance. "Are you sure? You look more tired than Mr. Aizawa."

"Yeah. I just-" Deku replied, yawning again.

"No you're not." Kacchan interrupted. "You need sleep, you damn nerd." He growled, grabbing Deku by the wrist and dragging him away.

Mina giggled. The two were polar opposites, but had some sort of strange friendship. Deku would calm down Bakugo when he worked himself up into a rage, and Bakugo would force Deku to actually take care of himself instead of constantly helping others at his own expense. Perhaps it was because they had been friends for a long time, or perhaps it was because stressful situations made people work together. And the zombie apocalypse definitely counted as a stressful situation. Whatever the reason, the two were nearly inseparable. Well, as long as you didn't want to get blown up, or have a sleep deprived Deku.

* * *

Shoto sighed. He hated talking to his father, but he needed to. "Endeavor?" He said questioningly. He never called Endeavor father, dad, or even by his name. He was just Endeavor to him.

"Yes?"

"I need to talk to you about Midoriya."

"The green haired kid? What about him?l

"I think he's a zombie."

At this, Endeavor shot Shoto a skeptical look. "Him? The kid couldn't be more harmless if he tried. How could he be a zombie?"

"Well, when he ate with Mina and Iida, he barfed up all of the food and passed out. I haven't seen him eat anything except peanut butter since then. And he's always sleep deprived, probably because he's busy hunting at night. I also think I saw his eyes flash red when we were in combat training, and-"

"Shoto. I don't have time for some stupid conspiracy theory. Midoriya is literally the least dangerous person here. Just drop it."

* * *

"Have we pinpointed where the target is?"

"Judging by the range of drained corpses, we assume it resides in a nearby stronghold. Steelstar."

"So it's settled then?"

"Yes."

"Tomorrow, we take Steelstar as our own."


	8. Discovery

Over the next few days, Shoto Todoroki gave me the cold shoulder, in a manner of speaking. The rare times I did see him, he was staring directly at me. There was something cold in his eyes. Cold and calculating. I guess I never thought very hard about the calculating part, because if I did, I would've expected it.

Deku was walking through the cafeteria, following Iida and Denki to go on a border patrol. Kacchan reluctantly followed behind him. Deku had only managed to get him to do it because he slept for a few hours beforehand.

Out of the corner of his eye, Deku saw Todoroki. He yawned, partially out of sleep loss, and partially because his instincts made him. Whenever he was stressed out, he would usually start yawning uncontrollably. And Todoroki definitely stressed him out.

As they passed by the back wall, Deku suddenly felt a wall of ice slam into him, freezing him to the wall. Deku's instincts roared, so he closed his eyes as he tried to make them return to their normal state. After a few seconds, he opened them, only to see Todoroki walking up to him. The crowd seemed to be too stunned to do anything at first, but they soon started getting up and yelling at Todoroki, trying to figure out what the heck he was doing.

Todoroki turned to the crowd, his usual emotionless look replaced by a small scowl. "Izuku Midoriya is a danger to the stronghold and I can prove it." This caused the crowd to hesitate. Most stayed standing, but relaxed their posture. Todoroki wasn't the paranoid type, so if he thought something was true, it was likely that it was.

A few people disregarded this. Kacchan was the first. "I don't give a fuck what you think you can prove, Icyhot!" He roared, charging towards Todoroki.

Iida grabbed his shoulder, stopping him. "Bakugo, do not be too rash. Perhaps we just need to ask Todoroki-"

"Don't give me that diplomatic crap!" Kacchan shouted. He threw Iida's hand off of his shoulder and stalked towards Todoroki, who had formed a ice spike in his hand. "Icyhot! Don't you ever fucking touch my friends!"

"Are you sure he's your friend? Or anyone's friend, for that matter?" Todoroki asked cooly. "No friend of mine would keep a secret like this." Todoroki dragged the ice spike across Deku's cheek without turning around.

Deku couldn't help but snarl slightly when the scratch was made. His eyes flashed red. A stinging feeling radiated from the scratch, but, even worse, inky black blood oozed out of it. Todoroki had just revealed that he was a zombie to everyone in the cafeteria.

At this, Kacchan darted forward and exploded the ice binding Deku to the wall. Deku didn't move, staying frozen, with his back plastered to the wall. His instincts were torn between fight and flight, and Deku didn't even know what to think, much less what to do.

Just like that, all hell broke loose. Some people lunged for Deku, and were blocked by Kacchan's explosions. Others tried to stop these people. Others tried to stop the people trying to stop the people. Within seconds, everyone was fighting, and everything was plunged into chaos.

Deku stared, wide eyed at the large fight. It was driving his instincts insane. The sounds of yelling and flames, and the smells of anger and blood. His fight or flight instincts continued to war with one another, leaving him with his back pressed flat against the wall.

Suddenly, Deku's attention was drawn to a strange smell. It was smokey, but not in a firey way. There was no heat in this smoke, in fact, it dimly reminded Deku of autumn in that it had a strange crisp snap to it. He pinpointed where the scent was. A few feet away from the most intense fighting, coming from a strange purple-ish black fog. Out of the fog, strange people exited it. _No, not people, zombies._ Deku realized after sniffing the air.

The first was a tall, thin man. His hair was blue-ish white, and in a messy pile on his head. His most noticeable feature, though, were the disconnected hands holding onto him at random places. A few on his arms, some on his legs, and one covering his face. Only one of his eyes was visible, but that one eye communicated a pure hatred for everyone in the room.

He walked with a certain strength about him. In fact, everything about him screamed alpha. His chin was held high, and his posture didn't betray a hint of weakness. Even Deku found himself compelled to obey the strange zombie.

Behind the man, an entire pack of zombies appeared. Though there was something strange about them. They're eyes glowed bright red, so brightly that Deku doubted they were resisting their instincts at all. Despite this, they didn't act completely insane. They didn't snarl and snap at one another, or get in fights about who was going to be able to drink the sweet blood from the human's veins. They didn't even attack the people yet. They just stood, as if awaiting something.

Logically, Deku thought this was odd, but his instincts made him think this was the most natural thing in the world. They were waiting for orders. Orders from the alpha.

The battle began to slow as everyone began to notice the presence of the pack of zombies. The alpha grinned, sending chills down Deku's spine. That grin meant only one thing. Danger.

"Hello Steelstar." The man spoke, his voice filled with venom. His face twisted into a demented smile. "We're here to take over your stronghold." And with that, he turned to the zombies behind him and snarled. Deku didn't know how he could tell what the snarl meant, only that he could. It meant attack. He was giving the pack of zombies permission to attack. _Not permission. Orders._ Deku realized.

Even Deku felt compelled to follow the order, but he stopped himself. He couldn't take orders from this guy! He was the enemy! Deku stared at the chaos that this alpha had caused. Zombies were everywhere, eyes glowing red, and teeth bared. They were attacking the humans. _No, not just 'the' humans. They're my pack!_ Deku told himself. _He made them attack my pack!_ Deku thought, sparks of anger starting a flame of rage in the back of his mind.

An enraged snarl tore itself out of Deku. Before he knew what he was doing, his legs were moving. Moving towards the alpha. He slammed into the alpha with a flying tackle. This caught the alpha off guard, and threw him to the ground. Deku desperately tried to pin him, but to no avail. Within seconds, the alpha had managed to flip him over pin Deku the ground.

Deku froze. He hated this. He was trapped, and he hated being trapped. He began to furiously struggle, when a strange pain stabbed into his arm. Deku stilled, hissing in pain. The pain stopped increasing, and Deku felt something pressing his head to the ground. "Ah. So you're the sane one." The alpha said, sounding as if he was musing to himself. "I'm from League Z."

"League Z?" Deku said questioningly. It sounded like a name some little kid would come up with.

"Well, I would've called it the League of Zombies, but League Z sounded cooler." The alpha rambled. "Anyway, I was hoping I could convince you to join my team."

"Why would I ever join a villain like you?" Deku hissed.

"You're a zombie. They're humans. You saw what happened when they figured you out, they were willing to kill you. Do you really think that'll change after this battle?" The alpha asked.

Deku opened his mouth to snap back, but then had no idea what to say, so he closed his mouth. The statement rang with truth. They had tried to kill him. And for what? Trying his best to survive? At the same time, Deku knew that they had reason for it. Zombies were dangerous, and could snap at any moment. He knew better than most.

The alpha seemed to sense Deku's hesitation, but assumed it was for a different reason. He stood up, releasing Deku from the pin he held him in. "So, are you joining?" He asked, smirking.

He was answered by Deku punching him in the face. After that, Deku's instincts overflowed. He saw red. Every part of him screamed to attack the alpha. He complied.

The next few minutes could've been hours for all Deku knew. Each second dragged on for what seemed like an eternity as he fought with the alpha. Dodging, scratching, biting, some might've described it as some sort of demonic dance for their lives. An explosion of primal rage and instinct.

Deku wasn't aware of any pain as he fought. Even though he was getting covered in scratches and bites, and his arm was decayed to the point of showing the muscle beneath his skin, he felt nothing but the rush of adrenaline in his veins.

He didn't know how long the fight continued, only that he ended it. Among the whirlwind of fangs and fury, Deku had managed to pin the alpha down. In a fit of rage, Deku pressed the alpha's hand to his leg. The alpha's leg slowly decayed, revealing the muscle beneath his skin.

The alpha's other hand swiped through the air, aimed for Deku's face. In a surge of instinct, Deku leapt backward, off of the alpha. The alpha snarled at Deku, and attempted to push himself up, but his leg refused to cooperate.

Slowly, the tide of the battle seemed to stop. The zombies realized that their alpha had been beaten. Overthrown. They stared up at the red eyed teenager, and they awaited orders. Deku snarled at them all. The meaning of his snarl was evident to any zombie listening to him. _Leave now, or else._

The alpha growled lowly in defeat. "Kurogiri!" He growled. "We're retreating!"

The dark misty person, whose name was apparently Kurogiri, nodded. A large misty portal appeared next to the alpha, who roared out to his pack. He was telling them to retreat.

The other zombies obeyed immediately, darting into the portal as their alpha forced himself to stand up, propping himself onto his uninjured leg and disappearing into the mist. And then they were gone.

As they left, the adrenaline left Deku. He swayed dizzily, staring off into space. The will energy drained from his limbs, and he was tired. So tired. Seconds later, he fell to the ground, asleep.

A silence fell over the crowd. One person made a move towards Deku, but was stopped by the harsh voice of Kacchan. "Don't you fucking dare." He growled.

"He's dangerous." The person protested.

"So?! Most of the people here are dangerous! One of them even runs around with his hair on fire! Are you going to kick them out?" Kacchan roared.

"But... the bloodlust-"

"Deku has managed to control his bloodlust while surrounded by hundreds of people and being extremely sleep deprived for a week. There is not a doubt in my mind that he can resist his bloodlust."

"He's a zombie and-"

"And what? He's still human! You're are all idiots for thinking that he'll hurt you! What does he have to do to prove himself?! He just got his ass whipped so that you people could survive! He fought for us against his own kind! If that doesn't prove anything, then tell me, what does?" Kacchan hissed, every word dripping with venom.

A silence answered Kacchan.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. Now help me get him to the medical bay."


	9. Awakening

**Author's Note**

Sorry for the short chapter! I've been kind if busy lately. Hope you guys understand!

* * *

Everything was foggy. His thoughts dipped and dodged past his hands as he tried to grasp them, slipping through his fingers like water. Only one thought stayed with him. It wasn't a clear thought, nor a thought Deku wanted, but it was still there. The thought was more of a feeling than a thought. It nagged at him. It wanted him to do something... to eat? No, to drink. It was a thirst. A thirst that latched onto the back of his mind and made it explode with pain.

The explosion of pain jolted Deku awake. His head leapt off of his pillow, but seconds afterward he felt firm hands on his shoulders pushing him down. Someone said something, but Deku couldn't seem to grasp what it was. Deku weakly tried to resist, but his body wouldn't let him. A sweet liquid began to flow into Deku's mouth, so he swallowed it. Slowly, energy flowed back into his limbs. His thoughts began to settle and solidify. After a while, the pain in the back of his head all but disappeared.

As his vision focused, Deku saw that someone was feeding him blood from a bowl. After a few minutes, the bowl had been emptied. Deku blinked drowsily, and rubbed the bloodstain off of his mouth. He stared at the person who had been holding the bowl for a moment before he registered who the person was. "Kacchan?"

"What?" Kacchan growled.

"Wha... What happened?" Deku stammered.

"After you scared the zombies off you passed out. Half the stronghold wanted to kick you out, but I managed to save your ass by yelling at them." Kacchan explained. "They pros are still arguing about what they're going to do with you."

Deku gulped. "Do you think-"

"If they do I'm coming with you." Kacchan growled. "Right after I punch each and every one of them in the face."

"Kacchan!" Deku yelped accusingly.

"What? It's true." Kacchan replied.

They lapsed into silence for a moment, which was interrupted by a red haired kid barging in. "Ey! Zombro's awake!" He said, grinning broadly.

Deku jumped, his eyes flashing red since he was startled. Kacchan seemed to notice this, and begrudgingly explained, "Deku, Kirishima." He said, gesturing to the red haired kid. "Kirishima was the one who bandaged you up."

"Yeah! I would've let Bakubro do it, but he's got a terrible bedside manner." Kirishima teased.

Kacchan scowled and raised his hand close to Kirishima's face. "Are you asking to die?" he growled.

Kirishima laughed this off as if it was nothing. Deku paused for a moment, before asking, "Did you guys know eachother before this?"

"Yeah. He was the guy I kept going on border patrols with." Kacchan growled. "Unwillingly."

Kirishima laughed again. "They have a requirement for there to be two or more people on every border patrol. I was the only one manly enough to go with him!"

"More like the only one with a quirk that meant you would't get injured by me." Kacchan grumbled.

Deku smiled, happy that Kacchan had a friend aside from him. He moved to get out of the bed, but a sharp, stinging pain in his arm stopped him. He hissed, wincing.

"Oh, yeah. Your arm was decayed pretty badly. Most likely gonna scar. We didn't give you any painkillers though because of their effect on most zombies." Kirishima said.

Deku nodded, thinking back to the radio messages that Kacchan had told him about. One of them had talked about giving pain killers to a sane zombie friend of his. This caused the zombie to get extremely dizzy, disoriented, and eventually seemed to reduce his ability to ignore his instincts. The effects disappeared after a day or two.

I ended up spending the next few hours chatting with Kirishima and Kacchan. Eventually I yawned, and Kacchan took this as a sign that I was getting tired, which I was. He left, dragging Kirishima behind him, and I slept for a while. It was a pretty nice nap, aside from the waking up part...

Deku yawned. He blinked, glancing at his surroundings. It was mostly the same since he had fallen asleep. The cot, the window, the person in a yellow sleeping on the floor. _Wait, what?!_

"Aizawa-sensei?!" Deku yelped, staring at the yellow lump on the floor.

The yellow lump slowly moved into a sitting position. He stretched, rubbing his eyes as he did. "Midoriya."

"What are you doing here?!"

"Up until three seconds ago, sleeping." Aizawa replied, regarding Deku with a deadpan stare.

"But why?"

"I'm here to tell you what we decided."

Deku gulped, holding back a stressed out yawn. "Oh." Was all he could manage to say.

"You get to stay." Aizawa said. Deku breathed a sigh of relief. "On one condition. Should you ever injure, infect, or, worst of all, kill any human in this stronghold, not only will you find yourself getting kicked out of the stronghold, you will also find yourself dead."

"I understand sir." Deku said, nodding quickly.

"Good." Aizawa said, standing up and walking towards the door. Just before he exited, he paused and turned to Deku, "By the way, be careful around Endeavor."

Deku's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Er, why?" He asked.

"He isn't quite as... forgiving as others."


	10. Friends or Foes?

**Author's Note**

Sorry for not updating on time for like, a week. I was really busy, and, in fact, still am. So I've decided to change the update schedule. Updating every other day was extremely taxing, because, between my Night Fox story and this, I was writing a chapter every day. I will try to update once a week, but again, I'm really busy, so there are no garuntees. That said, I will update as often as I can. Thanks for understanding, and I have fun reading this chapter!

* * *

It took a week or two before I was pretty much fully healed. The only injury that hadn't managed to heal yet was my arm. It was still pretty sore, so I avoided using my left arm as much as possible. Fortunately, I'm right handed. Though, being able to only use one arm does have it's drawbacks...

Deku hissed angrily as the deer he was hunting darted off into the wilderness. There was no way he was going to catch up with that. This was the third kill he had lost that day.

He sniffed the air, taking in the forest scents while he searched for new prey. The most prominent of the smells was an extremely sweet smell. It was sweeter than most animal smells, so Deku assumed that it was a human. Though, the scent didn't remind him of any human he had ever encountered before. Sure, it was sweet, but it lacked everything else that made it seem human.

The sweet smell was accompanied by a sort of flowery smell. Almost, but not quite, like mint with a sour tang to it. Curious, Deku followed his nose. After a considerable amount of searching, he heard footsteps on the forest floor, along with the voices of two people.

"We've been walking for houuuuurs! How much longer until we get there?" A feminine voice called.

"Don't know, don't care. I just want you to shut up." A deep voice growled in reply.

"But it's such a long walk! And I wanna be there already! It's gonna be so much fun!" The first voice retorted excitedly.

'Wonder where they're going... probably to Steelstar.' Deku thought silently. He turned to leave, thinking that they could probably walk the half a mile it took to get to the stronghold safely by themselves. Besides, he wasn't exactly the right person to introduce anyone to Steelstar.

Unfortunately, the universe had other plans. As Deku turned to leave he stepped on a twig that broke rather loudly. The sharp cracking sound made the two travelers pause.

"Who's there?" The masculine voice asked.

Deku froze, torn between running away and actually talking to the people. 'It would just look suspicious if I run away.' Deku reminded himself, so he begrudgingly turned around to face the two. He walked forward a few feet, out of the forest and towards the street that the strangers were walking on. Deku raised his hands in the air, trying to look as harmless as possible. "Just me." He said nervously.

"And who are you?" One of the two growled, whom Deku recognized as the owner of the masculine voice. The man had dark, scarred skin marking his neck, under-eyes, and arms. It almost looked like he had done it on purpose. Just looking at the scars made Deku nervous.

Next to the scarred man was a girl, whom Deku thought to be about the young man's age. She had a broad grin marking her face, which Deku found to be unsettling. Her blonde hair seemed to bounce as she happily said, "Oh! Hi! I'm Toga! This is Dabi! Who're you?"

"I-Izuku Midoriya." Deku said quickly, shrinking under their gaze.

"Why are you sneaking around in the forest?" The man, Dabi, growled.

"I was on a hunting mission." Deku replied, "For Steelstar."

Dabi shot Deku a suspicious look, "Steelstar? You mean the stronghold?"

"Y-Yeah. That's where you're headed, isn't it?"

Before Dabi had a chance to answer, Toga piped up. "Yup! We wanna be a part of it! Mainly because it's easier than surviving on our own... y'now, being protected from zombies and all. How'd you know?"

Deku laughed nervously at the zombie comment. He paused for a moment, then answered, "Most travelers coming by here are looking to join the stronghold."

"Oh, cool! So how close are we?" Toga asked.

"About a half a mile away." Deku said, "If you just keep going straight on this ro-" He stopped suddenly, scenting something that set him on edge. After a second, Deku realized he had just scented a zombie, most likely a feral, judging by the bitter tang of it. His guess was proven true by a snarl.

Before he had time to react, the zombie flew past Deku and towards Toga. Then Deku realized he was reacting. His legs were moving, throwing him towards the zombie as he tackled it out of the way.

Deku felt an intense heat next to his head. He glanced to the side to find that the heat was coming from Dabi, who was shooting bright blue flames from his hand. The flames caught the zombie's side, sending burns blistering onto it's skin. This did nothing to deter the zombie, which took the distraction as a chance to sink it's teeth into Deku's already injured arm. A pained hiss escaped his lips, as he tried to claw his way out of the feral's grip.

The feral was having none of this. It lashed out with it's nails, which were surprisingly long, raking deep scratches into Deku's arms. More flames leapt past Deku's head, but this time he rolled to the side, allowing Dabi to put more power into his attack. The blue flames engulfed the feral, charring it's skin until it was almost completely black. As the attack relented, the feral groaned and began moving again. In that moment, a knife shot forward and stabbed the feral directly in the heart. It paused for a moment, and then fell to the ground, unmoving.

Deku stayed on the ground, panting from the scare. He winced as he glanced at his injuries, which were covered in inky black blood. No sooner hd he moved to get up when he felt intense heat in front of his face. Gulping, Deku stared upwards at Dabi, who was holding his hand in front of Deku's face while flames danced along it. "You have ten seconds to explain this shit." He growled, gesturing to Deku's blood.

"I'm a sane zombie and my bloodlust isn't high right now so please don't kill me!" Deku blurted quickly. "I live at Steelstar stronghold under some certain... er, conditions and I drink plenty of animal blood so my bloodlust never endangers others, and I'm not dangerous to any humans so just please, please, please, please don't hurt me! I really don't want to get in trouble with the stronghold! And I also don't want to die! Dying is definitely not how I want to spend my Friday! I won't ever-"

"Shut up." Dabi groaned, the flame on his hand dying out. "I get it, stop ranting."

Deku breathed a sigh of relief, but tensed again when Dabi forcefully grabbed his shirt and wrenched him onto his feet. "But I think we should at least check with Steelstar that your 'arrangement' actually exists. I doubt they would like a random zombie running around half a mile away from their facility."

Deku nodded, "Yeah, I guess that makes sense."

Toga beamed, "Yay! We get to walk together! What do ya wanna talk about? Maybe about being a zombie! What's that like? Ooh, have you ever drank someone's blood? What does blood taste like? I heard being a zombie changes how you taste things, is that true?"

The entire walk went by relatively quickly, with Toga spouting off questions at a mile a minute while Deku tried to answer them as best he could before another question flew by. Occasionally Dabi would pipe in, trying to slow Toga's relentless flow of questions. Deku found it odd that the two had taken him being a zombie so easily. Most people would kill him on the spot, heck, even people he had known well and been friends with had tried to kill him just for being a zombie. But not these two. Aside from Dabi's suspicion, they were actually quite friendly. It was almost unsettling, but a nice change.

Though, it was no more unsettling then their strange scent. Deku couldn't put his finger on it, but there definitely was something making their smell different. Perhaps it was just some type of plant they ran into.

Aside from their odd smell, the two also acted a bit strange. Toga was intensely peppy, especially for being in the middle of a zombie apocalypse, and Dabi's cold gaze could've rivaled Aizawa's. Their clothing was torn and dirtied, but that was pretty normal for the post apocalypse. The one thing that wasn't ripped up on their clothing was matching bandanas the two wore. Toga wore hers around her neck, and had apparently decorated the white bandana with felt markers. It pretty much looked like a rainbow had exploded on it. Dabi's, on the other hand, was a dark blue and tied tightly around his ankle. Deku commented on it in their conversation, and Dabi mentioned that bandanas were useful in case of emergency. They could be used in place of gauze should the need arise, or as a towel.

Eventually they made it back to the stronghold, where they were greeted by Kacchan threatening to explode their faces if they injured Deku. Deku managed to calm Kacchan by telling him it was from a feral zombie that had done the damage, and mentioning that Dabi and Toga had saved him from it. This resulted in Kacchan threatening to explode Deku's face if he got injured again.

Fortunately, their conversation was interrupted by Kirishima. He walked up and noogied Kacchan, all while telling him, "Hey, calm down! Zombro just brought some new people! Once we do a security check, we get to give em' the tour!"

Kacchan sighed, and started the security measures to make sure they didn't let any 'unsavory characters' into the stronghold. Most of the questions were meant to check if they were zombies, which was a bit odd considering they already had a zombie in the facility with them. After the questioning, Kacchan growled, "Ey, zombozo. Can you smell if they're human or not?"

"Yeah. They're human." Deku replied, deciding not to mention their strange smell. After all, if his bloodlust said they were human, than what else could they be?

Speaking of his bloodlust, he was starting to get a headache. "Kacchan, I didn't happen to leave my water bottle here did I?"

He was answered by getting a heavy, metal water bottle chucked at his head. Deku ducked and watched as his water bottle flew over his head and slammed into the ground behind him. Growling, he grabbing it and took a sip or two, dulling his headache.

Kirishima simply laughed at this and offered to bring the two on a tour. They agreed, and Toga ended up dragging Deku along with them. Even as they walked about the stronghold, pointing out the various parts of it, Deku couldn't shake the feeling that something was up, and one way or another, he was going to figure out what.


	11. An Unexpected Ally

**Author's Note**

Okay, so I know I said I was going to update once a week, and now this is the second time this week I'm updating, but I caught writing fever. So, enjoy the chapter, but don't get used to updates this frequent.

Second, if you guys have any questions about this au, or my second au (Night Fox) please feel free to forcefully throw them at my tumblr, im-a-killer-whale. Also, if you actually do decide to check out my tumblr, prepare for weird shit. I'm literally insane.

Anyway, thanks for reading, ya'll are awesome, and I hope you enjoy the chapter!

* * *

A few weeks later, I was finally fully healed. Though, I had earned a large scar on my forearm. A huge, pale blotch that was about the size of an orange marked my forearm. Veins of dark red showed exactly how my skin had disintegrated off when the alpha had grabbed my arm. How it had peeled off like old paint. You see, zombies scar much more easily than humans. If I was human, the injury probably would've healed without a mark. Unfortunately, I'm not.

I had also gotten a large bite mark from the feral zombie. Perfectly outlining every tooth. It overlapped with the original scar, but only by an inch or two.

So, I mentally added them to the growing list of scars I had, and they joined the original bite scar on my shoulder, and the small scratch-like scar that I had gotten as a kid when I fell out of a tree while trying to avoid Kacchan. Of course, nowadays, that list is a hell of a lot longer.

The scars aren't that bad though. They're pretty easy to hide. Besides, they weren't the reason people glared at me as I walked down the halls. Why people hated me. And why some still do.

It was because I was a zombie.

This was understandable. Most people have lost people to zombies. Family, friends, pets. They were literally causing the apocalypse. Had zombies never appeared, most of these people would probably be sitting at home, busy cooking dinner or doing homework. And I was easy to blame. I was one of the fuckers that messed up the world, who wouldn't blame me.

For most, this blame wouldn't really affect me. It would make people shoot glares over their shoulder whenever I passed, or it would cause them to suddenly have something else to do when I was in the room. That was simple. All I had to do was ignore it. Pretend it wasn't happening.

Unfortunately, some blame was much harder to ignore...

Deku yawned. He was heading towards his shared room, about to get some rest after a border patrol. The hallways were mostly empty due to it being about lunch time. That and most people avoided Deku like the plague.

As he walked, Deku realized that there were footsteps behind him. He strained his ears for a moment, and managed to pick out three different rhythms of footsteps. Three people.

Lightly sniffing the air, Deku found that he didn't recognize their scents. He wasn't great at picking out different human scents, most of them being overwhelmed by the sweetness of their smell, but he was okay at telling who was who with some signature scents. Such as Kacchan always smelling of nitroglycerin, Iida always smelling like exhaust, and Uraraka smelling like lilacs, which Deku assumed had something to do with her shampoo since the smell originated from her hair. He was slowly getting better at picking out scents though.

He was also getting better at reading body language. Most of the basics came naturally to him, such as a dominant pose versus a submissive pose, but body language was still something that was incredibly hard for him to learn. It was like tryin to learn Spanish by moving to Mexico and the only people there he could even attempt to talk to all hated him, or were extremely angry chihuahuas.

The guy next to him was leaning towards the angry chihuahua side.

Even without bringing up his mental dictionary of body language (which was extremely limited anyway), Deku could tell this guy wasn't just mad, he was mad and confident. A terrifying combination.

Out of the corner of his eye, Deku saw that the guy had short, blonde hair. He held himself with a cocky confidence that could rival Kacchan's. His face was marked with a sneer as he turned to Deku, rage burning in his eyes. "Oh look! It's zombie boy!"

Deku sighed and averted his eyes to stop his slowly rising instincts, which only rose faster when he heard the two people behind the blonde speed their pace to match his.

"What? Think your too good to even look at us, huh, Z-boy?" The blonde jeered.

Deku gulped, staring down at his shoes. "N-No. I- I'm just... a little bit tired is all."

"Ooh! Hear that? Zom-boy is feelin' tired! Goin' to to take a nap?" That earned a snicker from one of his buddies.

"Just... p-please just leave me alone. I really don't want to deal with this right now." Deku said, trying his best to keep his voice straight. He knew people like this weren't easily deterred, but he just had to get to his room and he'd be done.

"What? Can't handle us? Afraid you're gonna give in to your bloodlust?" The blonde kid sneered. "People like you make me sick." He said, his voice dropping to a low growl.

"Look dude, I haven't done anything to. I'm s-sorry I ended up the way I am, but this is just how it is and we should make the best of it."

"Haven't done anything?" The blonde growled. "Haven't. Done. Anything?! It's because of people like you that Kendo is dead!" He roared, his voice rising with each word. The blonde's hand flew trough the air, placing itself between Deku and his escape route. Trapping him in between himself and the wall.

Again, Deku gulped. It was personal for this guy. He must've lost someone to feral or something. "I-I'm sorry. I had nothing to d-do with whatever happened to... er, this person... uh, K-Kendo."

The instant the name released itself from Deku's lips, an explosion of pain hit his jaw. The blonde guy had just punched him. Immediately, Deku's instincts leapt upwards, but Deku firmly pushed them back down. He couldn't risk losing control. If he so much as scratched any of the humans, he would get kicked out within seconds, or worse.

Deku pressed himself against the wall. He felt himself shaking, but couldn't do a thing to stop it. He was too busy holding back the tidal wave of anger in his mind. Instinctively, he bared his teeth at the blonde, releasing a low growl.

"Uh-oh! Zom-boy's growling at us! Can't have that. Good zombies don't do that!" The blonde snickered, and delivered another punch to Deku's jaw, sending him reeling to the ground. Deku refused to get back up.

Another surge of instincts rushed through Deku. This one was less fight, and more flight though. He wanted to run. So desperately. But getting up would only result in getting knocked down again. Besides, if he stood up, the flight might turn back to fight, and he wasn't sure he could manage that.

So, he did the next best thing. Instead of flight, he froze. He froze, even as the group began to kick him, sending burst of pain into his side. All he did was hide his head in his hands and wait it out. The entire time he withstood the ordeal, silently praying for it to end while his instincts roared at themselves, the blonde was laughing. Snickering. As he sent his lackeys after him, he found it funny. He enjoyed Deku's pain.

That hurt more than the bruises. That just because of something out of Deku's control, someone hated him this much. That someone could hate anyone this much. It made him sick to his stomach.

Eventually the blows began to relent. Deku stayed frozen on the floor, hands of his head, trembling slightly. All he could do was whimper.

The snickers and laughing continued as Deku lifted his head ever so slightly. His eyes were brimming with tears of pain, and bile rose in his throat. He wretched onto the floor, which was met with more snickers and a few exclamations of "Eww." and "Gross." Their words held no remorse. They held a sick fascination. Like little kids entertaining themselves by torturing an animal.

Deku supposed it really wasn't that different.

He just closed his eyes and waited. He had no idea what he was waiting for, only that he should wait. This seemed to bore the attackers, who gave him a few experimental kicks to see if he would react. Deku didn't. He couldn't. All of his energy was gone, and all that was left was pain. He just stayed frozen where he was, trembling, and staring off into space.

This seemed to please the blonde. He smirked at Deku. "Remember my name. Neito Monoma, the guy who you better fucking bow down to, because he's not gonna put up with your shit." He growled, before turning and leaving, closely followed by his lackeys.

Deku didn't know how long he lay there, next to his own pool of vomit, trembling like a wounded dog. All he was aware of was the pain. Radiating from every bruise, was a burning pain. Pain even worse than when he was attacked by alpha. At least then he fought. He dodged. He didn't freeze, taking blow after blow, racking up bruise after bruise.

He didn't even think to get up. He just lay silently, his tears slowly drying into salty trails.

Eventually he became aware of one thing other than the pain. A sound. No, a voice.

"Midoriya?"

* * *

The sight was a grisly one. He was curled up on the floor, almost his entire body covered in black and blue, and he was shaking like a leaf. He wasn't even sure that the zombie- no, that Midoriya, could stand up.

"Midoriya?"

The greenette's head lifted ever so slightly to stare at Shoto. He was looking straight through him, but there was a small spark of recognition in his emerald green eyes. His face was ghostly pale, and it took a few seconds to realize that Midoriya was in shock. This was just getting better and better.

"Hey." Shoto said, walking closer to Midoriya and gently placing his hand on his shoulder. "I'm gonna take you to the med bay, okay?"

At this, Midoriya flinched. "No. No m'd bay." He slurred.

"What? Why?" Shoto asked, confused. _Maybe he hit his head or something..._

"End'vor gonna k'll me." Midoriya mumbled.

Shoto paused, about to insist that Midoriya come to the med bay anyway, when he realized that his words rang with truth. If he came to the med bay looking like this, it would seem like he got in a fight, which, for all Shoto knew, could be true. No length of convincing would work on Endeavor to convince him otherwise, and there were most likely no witnesses to the event since, if there were, someone would probably have done something. And even if there were, if someone had left Midoriya like this, he doubted they would mind Midoriya being kicked out of the stronghold, or worse, and would probably lie to achieve that.

Shoto sighed. "You're lucky I have a first aid kit in my room." He grumbled, silently wondering to himself why he was helping Midoriya. "Can you get up?"

Midoriya stared off into space for a few seconds, as if considering the question, then nodded slowly. Shoto held out his hand to help Midoriya up, and the greenette grabbed it gladly. As Shoto lifted him upwards, he could see Midoriya's face, which winced with each movement. He was in pain and Shoto could tell, but he didn't make a sound.

Shoto gulped, unsure of what to do. He grabbed Midoriya's water bottle, which had fallen right next to where he had been laying on the flor, then headed towards his room, which wasn't too far from where the were. As they walked, Shoto continued to wonder why he was helping the zombie.

 _I guess it's my fault this happened to him.m_ He thought, guilt pressing in at his chest. _If I didn't expose him, no one would be holding a grudge against him, so no one would be trying to hurt him._ The guilt pressed harder, but a small part of his mind pointed out that if he didn't expose the greenette's secret, then the kid probably would've still gotten found out eventually.

 _But why did I expose him?_ Shoto thought. _I_ _could've just talked to him about it... or at least have done it in a less public way._ Of course, there was a reason why he exposed Midoriya. He knew it, but he hated to admit it. He did it because he hated zombies. Who didn't?

 _But he's not like those ferals. He doesn't even know who Fuyumi was._ Shoto told himself, knowing that it would do nothing to stop what had already been done. Guilt crashed over him like a tidal wave. _Some hero you are._

Eventually the two made it to Shoto's room. He probably would've gotten a shared room, but the person he was going to share it with couldn't make it to the stronghold. He was just glad he didn't have to live in the same room as Endeavor.

Shoto opened the door, gesturing for Midoriya to enter. Midoriya didn't seem to register this, so Shoto just sighed and dragged him inside. After closing the door and gently guiding Midoriya to his bed, he sat him down and grabbed his med kit out from under the bed.

Shoto handed Midoriya his water bottle, which he held limply. After a pause, Shoto said, "Drink it."

Midoriya blinked, as if startled by Shoto's voice. He glanced at the water bottle in his hands and nodded numbly. After a few seconds of fumbling with the cap, he took a few sips from it. Slowly, the color began to return to his face, and his eyes began to lose the glassy, confused look.

Shoto handed him a bottle of medical cream. "Put this on your bruises." He said placidly, but his tone didn't allow for argument.

Midoriya nodded stiffly. As he began to apply the cream, the two fell into an awkward silence. Shoto, unsure of what to do, decided to break it. "So are you going to tell me what happened?" He asked, his voice holding a slight accusatory edge.

Midoriya stayed silent for a moment, then, without looking up, he spoke. "Just some... some idiots looking for a punching bag."

"Do you know who these idiots are?"

He paused for a moment, biting his lip. "N-No." He squeaked.

"That's a lie and we both know it."

Midoriya gulped. Another long pause ensued, which was broken by his sigh. "I don't really wanna talk about it."

"Has this happened before?"

"No."

Shoto squinted at Midoriya for a moment, trying to see if he was lying again. After a few moments, he found it to be the truth. "Are you going to tell anyone about it?"

Midoriya seemed a little bit surprised by the question. "Well... you're going to tell people about it even if I don't, so I guess I'm gonna have to tell Kacchan. If he found out from anyone except me..." Midoriya gave a dry laugh. "He'll flip."

Shoto was pretty surprised by this. Midoriya really didn't seem like the type to be so... pessimistic. Especially when it came to other people. He believed as best he could in everyone else. Once again, guilt settled onto Shoto. He sighed. "Look, if you aren't comfortable with other people knowing, then I won't tell anyone. Though, I can't say that I'll feel the same way if this happens again."

Midoriya's eyes darted upwards, meeting Shoto's. "I- I- well..." He paused for a moment, clearly surprised by the turn of events. "Thank you." He managed to choke out after a string of incoherent noises.

"No problem."

Once again the silence ensued. Shoto hated it. He knew he should say something, but had no idea what. After a long moment of hesitation, he decided on, "Oh, and- um, Midoriya?"

"Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say... I'm sorry. I shouldn't have exposed you like that. There were better, more mature ways of handling that. And I should've talked to you about it, but I didn't. And I could've just spoken to some of the pros about this, but again, I didn't. I really am sorry that this happened as a result of-"

"Stop blaming yourself." Midoriya growled, cutting Shoto short. "I accept your apology, but only if you stop blaming yourself for this. Anyone else would've done the same in your place. This:" He said, gesturing to the bruises covering him, "Is not your fault."

Another silence ensued, which Midoriya took advantage of to return the bottle of cream. "I should probably get back to the room... Kacchan's gonna kill me." He laughed, but it sounded empty. "See you around, I guess." As he got up and walked towards the door, his pain was obvious. He flinched at every other step.

"You sure you feeling well enough to-"

"I'll be fine." Midoriya interrupted curtly.

As he opened the door to leave, Shoto hesitatingly called after him. "Just know that if this ever happens again... my door is open."

Midoriya smiled, the light slowly returning to his eyes. "Thanks."


	12. Mysteries Uncovered

Of course, Kacchan gave me a heck of a time when I got back. I told him it was because of a pissed off stag, which I wasn't sure he really believed, but it shut him up.

Over the next few weeks, I kept getting more and more "inexplicable bruises". I did my best to hide them. I started wrapping gauze around my arms, saying it was to hide my scars. I had to make sure I wore pants that covered my legs completely every day, lest I get found out.

I didn't tell anyone about it at the time, which, when I think about it today, was extremely stupid of me. I just avoided Monoma as much as possible, by going out on long hunts, and staying in my room as much as I could. My few friends seemed to notice this, and did their best to get me out of my room and with other people, but I just kept making excuses to not go with them. Shoto noticed this, but stuck to his word and didn't mention it to anyone. At least, as far as I knew.

Monoma still managed to find me quite a lot. Most of the time, it wasn't bad as the first time. He would let me off with a few bruises. Well, at least a few compared to before. Once or twice, he even managed to knock me out. Not that it made much difference. I never retaliated against them anyway. I couldn't put a scratch on them, or Endeavor would have me kicked out.

Endeavor had already kicked me out of combat class, deeming me to be too dangerous to fight with since I might lose control. It was one of the few decisions he made that actually made a little but of sense, and wasn't just to make me miserable, but I still hated it. I had almost no fighting skill. The only reason I beat the alpha was because my instincts gave me an insane adrenaline rush. I barely knew what I was doing. If I had to face an opponent that actually used strategy, I would be toast. But, even if I knew how to fight, it would be nearly impossible for me if I lost it every time I was in danger. At the rate it was going, it looking like I was never going to learn to fight properly.

Fortunately, it turned out that there were some experts on the subject who were ready and willing to teach me.

Deku hopped down from the fence, which he had managed to climb over with the aid of a nearby tree. Wincing as his bruises gave off small pops of pain, he walked towards the back of the main building, where he had learned there was a back entrance.

He cautiously sniffed the air, hoping to scent if Manoama was nearby. He smelled the familiar sweet smell of other humans, and something sour, but he couldn't tell if any of them was Manoama or not, since he had a particularly plain scent. Deku could tell that there had been a couple of people there earlier, but he had no idea if they were still there, much less who they were.

Shrugging it off, Deku headed towards the door, walking as swiftly as he could. That's when the door swung open from the inside. Deku's stomach dropped. His gaze was glued to his feet, and he didn't even want to look up to see who it was. He already had a pretty good idea of who it was anyway.

"Not gonna say anything, Zom-boy?" Monoma teased.

Deku gulped, biting his tongue to stop himself from replying. Talking only made it worse. Monoma took this as an insult, and shoved him backwards. Deku fell to the ground. He threw his hands out behind him, which did nearly nothing to break his fall. A surge of instincts roared in his ears, forcing him to hold back a growl. Deku frowned, and stared downward, still avoiding Monoma's gaze.

"What? Not even going to look at me? Are you too scared?" Monoma taunted, roughly kicking Deku in the side. "Get up, loser."

Deku refused to move. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted Monoma's two lackeys. Monoma snatched him by the neck of his hoodie and lifted him in the air. He raised his fist, smirking as Deku flinched slightly.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." A familiar voice warned.

Deku made no attempt to get out of Monoma's grasp, and hung limply, legs barely supporting him. He would've tried to look and see who it was, because if he did, he would no doubt get a beating from Monoma. Besides, he already recognized the voice. It was Dabi.

This was mildly surprising. He hadn't seen Dabi or Toga much since the tour. Every once in a while, he would scent them on one of the hunting party routes, but that was it. The two had mostly stayed in their room.

Monoma smirked. "Alright." he sneered, throwing Deku to the ground. "You're the new guy, right? Must mean you don't know yet." he snickered. "This thing is not your friend, it's a zombie." Monoma spat.

"I already knew that." Dabi growled. "Doesn't change a thing."

Monoma raised an eyebrow. "Huh. You must be one of those zombie-lover idiots." He sneered. "If you haven't noticed, you're outnumbered. Right now, the best idea for you is to just walk away and pretend this never happened, unless you want want us to make you regret the day you were born."

"Not going to happen." Dabi retorted. He stared directly at Monoma, wearing a deadpan expression. He held his right hand out to the side, and a blue flame lit in it, "Now get away from the kid."

Monoma smirked. "I wouldn't do that if I were you." he warned. He stepped on Deku's back and pressed down, which produced a loud crack. Deku flinched, and he was unable to hold back a pained yelp as his shoulder was dislocated.

Dabi went silent. He glared at Monoma, and the flame in his hand went out.

"There. Now isn't that-" Monoma began, but he was suddenly cut off as something shot through the air and tackled him off of Deku. Deku heard a familiar high pitched giggle, but, when he tried to move to see what was going on, an extreme pain shot through his shoulder. Letting loose a hiss of pain, Deku stayed laying on the ground.

All he could do was listen.

"What the fuck?!" Monoma roared.

Toga giggled. "You didn't listen to Dabi, so I had to help! Now we just need you to leave Izuku alone!" There was some scuffling sounds, and then a yell or two.

Then a blazing heat shot over Deku's head. Fear shot through Deku. 'I can't just sit here and do nothing!' He gritted his teeth and propped himself up with his good arm. Lighting bolts of pain shot up Deku's arm, and his eyes began to water. Another blast of flame forced Deku to duck.

Once the fire cleared, Deku propped himself up once again. A gasp tore itself out of his mouth when he realized that Dabi had pinned Monoma , facedown, into the dirt. Toga had managed to pin one of Monoma's lackeys, and the other was knocked out on the ground.

'I couldn't have been down for more than a minute! How did they do this in a minute!?'

Dabi stepped to the side of Monoma and grabbed him by the back of his shirt. Lifting him in the air, he growled into his ear, "Now scram." With that, he dropped Monoma. Toga giggled, and got off of his lackey, who grabbed the knocked out guy and sprinted away.

Monoma glared at Dabi, then at Deku. "This isn't over, you little shit." He growled. Then he pivoted around and walked away, grumbling lowly to himself.

Toga turned to Deku, "Are you okay?" She asked, holding out a hand.

"Yeah, I-" Deku began, but he was cut off as another jolt of pain shot up his shoulder, and he released a gasp of pain.

"Oh! Right! You're shoulder got messed up, didn't it? It's probably just dislocated! Here, I can fix it!" Toga giggled. She grabbed Deku's arm and suddenly wrenched it forward. Pain shot through Deku's shoulder for a split second, and then it was gone, leaving behind a slightly sore feeling.

Deku gritted his teeth, forcing himself not to scream out in pain. Glancing at his shoulder, he realized that he could move his arm without lightning bolts of pain shooting up his arm. Granted, it was still pretty sore, but it was nothing compared to before.

"Uh... er, th-thanks." Deku stammered.

"No problem!" Toga chirped, grinning broadly. "I haven't had the chance to fight anyone all week! This was just what I needed."

"Wait, what?"

Dabi sighed. "Toga, you're freaking him out." He groaned. "She means she's been needing to burn off some energy."

"Oh."

"Do you need to go to the med bay? You've got a lot of... injuries." Dabi asked.

"Uh- erm- N-No. I'm f-fine." Deku stammered.

"Are you sure about that? You're practically covered in bruises." Dabi observed, gesturing to Deku's bandaged arms.

"W-What? No. These are just... uh, just to hide my scars!" Deku yelped.

"Then why are you covering up your right arm?"

"Uhh, to make it look... symmetrical..?" Deku replied weakly.

"If you're going to try to feed me a lie, then at least come up with a good one." Dabi growled. "I know that if I could get you to remove those bandages, I would see that your arms are covered in bruises."

Deku went silent, staring guiltily at his feet.

Dabi sighed frustratedly, pinching his nose in between his fingers, he growled, "Just take care of yourself." He turned and began walking away.

Toga grinned. "Oh, well I guess I gotta go! See ya next time!" She chirped, the darted after Dabi.

Deku suddenly noticed a dark blue bandana on the floor. 'Oh. Must be Dabi's.' Deku thought. He picked it up, and called out, "Wait! Dabi, I think you-" Suddenly Deku sneezed.

His eyebrows furrowed. Deku smelled the bandana, which smelled strongly of sweetness and... sour. Generally, something that someone wore all the time would smell like them, but not THIS strongly. It was like getting punched in the face by Dabi smell.

Deku shot a confused look at Dabi, who was walking over towards him now to retrieve his bandana. He was walking surprisingly hurriedly, looking strangely worried for someone who always wore a deadpan expression.

That's when it hit him.

"Why are you trying to cover up your scent?"

Immediately, Dabi scowled. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Yes you do. You did something to this bandana to make it smell different. This smell is so strong it could practically cover a..." Then another thought hit him. "A- a zombie's scent... HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS ARE ZOMBIES!"

The look on Dabi's face confirmed Deku's theory.

"I'm honestly surprised you didn't figure this out sooner." Toga giggled.

"But... why come to a stronghold if you're zombies?" Deku sputtered. "I mean, you clearly don't need the protection."

"Because we heard there was another sane zombie here! We had to see for ourselves! A stronghold letting a zombie stay with them is practically unheard of!" Toga began. "But we didn't know if they would let in more zombies, or if you would be nice or not, so we didn't want you to know that we were zombies."

Deku stayed silent for a moment. He could understand how they felt. It was terrifying to come somewhere new. Surrounded by people that you didn't know. Having no idea who you could trust. It was dangerous.

"W-Wait... how do you control your instincts so well? I've never even seen a hint of red in your eyes! How long have you guys been zombies? What did you put on the bandana to mask your smell so well? How do you fight like that and control your instincts to? How good is your sense of smell? Can you track down weaker scents? How good is your hearing? Are-"

"Wow, wow, wow. Kid, slow down." Dabi growled. "Are you telling me you can't even follow a scent trail?"

"It depends. If I'm tracking a rabbit in the forest, it's much easier than tracking a specific human in the stronghold. Telling human scents apart is hard because the sweetness of their blood kinda overpowers the rest of their scent."

Dabi sighed, fixing Deku with a tired glare. "How long have you been a zombie?"

"Only a month or two." Deku said, shrugging.

"You have... a lot to learn." Dabi groaned.

"How long have you guys been zombies?" Deku asked.

"A long time." Dabi growled lowly.

Toga giggled. "Honestly, we've lost track of it." She said, shrugging.

"But... how do you have such good control of your instincts? Can-"

"Don't go on another muttering tangent." Dabi grumbled.

"Oh come on, Dabi! At least we had each other when we were learning how to do all this stuff. He doesn't have anyone else, and he's surrounded by humans all the time. It makes sense for him to be curious." Toga pointed out.

Dabi scowled. "What? Are we supposed to give him zombie classes or something?"

"I mean, maybe." Toga said, shrugging confusedly.

"Erm... if it's not any trouble... I kind of do need help learning how to zombie." Deku mumbled quietly.

Dabi's scowl deepened. He pinched his nose with two of his fingers, sighing tiredly. "Fine. Just... meet us tonight. Other side of the fence, at dusk."

"Yay! We get to hang out!" Toga cheered.

Deku nodded. "Thank you!" He yelped.

"Yeah, sure." Dabi said dismissively, turning to leave. "Just get those bruises taken care of." He grumbled as he walked away, closely followed by Toga.

"See ya tonight Izuku!" Toga called, grinning.

Deku watched them leave, feeling an odd mixture of excitement, confusion, and anxiety. He rubbed his shoulder, which was giving off an aura of pain. "Ugh, jeez." He groaned, heading into the main building. "Kacchan's gonna kill me."


	13. Game Start

For the rest of the day, I was on edge. Okay, perhaps not on edge, but extremely impatient. I had been waiting months for answers on how to... to pretty much do anything while zombified, and I was excited to learn. Especially since it was from someone who would know so much, being zombies and all.

Of course, after a little while I got a nagging feeling of worry. My brain decided to go through all of the 'what ifs'. Most of them being stupid things like, what if they don't show up? What if they decide to not teach me? What if they hate me? And so on and so forth.

Now I know it was kind of stupid, but back then it seemed like a big problem. And I could only wait and see what would happen. I did manage to get some things done, like doctoring my wounds and assuring Shoto that I was not in too much pain.

The day felt more like a week, but eventually dusk came. So, senses buzzing and heart pounding, I headed out of the facility...

 _Crunch. Crunch. Crack._

Deku flinched at the sound of a twig breaking beneath him. Everything felt so loud. Perhaps it was because of how silent the forest was at dusk, with most animals laying down to sleep and it not being dark enough yet for the nocturnal animals, or perhaps simply because his instincts were being particularly strong. They always were at dawn and dusk.

As he continued walking about the forest, the crunching of dirt beneath his feet ringing through the air around him, he wondered exactly where Dabi and Toga were going to meet him. Dabi had simply said, "Other side of the fence," which wasn't very specific.

 _Maybe I could track them? But I don't know their real scent very well._ Deku thought to himself. He strained his ears and nose for any hint of the two. A small breeze carried a few scents to him, but they just ended up being some birds and a raccoon.

Just as Deku was debating going after the raccoon, he heard what could perhaps be a footstep. Freezing, he strained his ears for any hint of another footstep, but he couldn't catch a thing.

Which was probably why a 'thing' caught him.

A large weight suddenly slammed into Deku, throwing him face-first to the ground. Deku yelped, a wave of instincts bursting onto him with almost more for force than whatever tackled him. His eyes flashed red and he released an enraged snarl, hoping that his assailant was some kind of animal he could easily scare off.

A giggle sounded above Deku. He paused for a moment, confused. "Toga?" He asked incredulously.

"Yup, it's me!" Toga replied cheerfully.

Deku groaned and stood up, brushing the dirt off of himself as he did so. "How did I not scent you?" He asked, looking confused. "Did you mask your scent or something?"

Toga giggled. "Nah, I just stood with the breeze blowing my scent away from you." She explained. "You were walking super loudly, so it wasn't to hard to pinpoint where you were."

Deku felt a pinprick of embarrassment, and rubbed the back of his neck. "I walk loudly? How do you walk quietly?"

Toga paused for a moment, and tilted her head at him. Her face had a slightly surprised look to it. "Well... it helps to step lighter, but... I mean, it's kinda instinctual."

"Oh..." Was all Deku could muster in response. It seemed kind of weird that Toga was using her instincts to her advantage. Deku had never really considered trying to do anything with his instincts, aside from suppress them. They usually just ended up getting him in trouble.

Behind him, Deku heard an irritated snort. "You really don't know anything about being a zombie, do you?" Dabi groaned.

Deku scowled, small sparks annoyance shooting off in the back of his mind. "I do know some things." He protested weakly.

"Such as?" Dabi asked, skeptically quirking an eyebrow.

"Ummm, our hearing and sense of smell is better.. ?" Deku mumbled hesitantly.

Dabi sighed gustily. "What do you know about zombie your instincts? Body language? Feral behaviors?"

"N-not much." Deku admitted.

"Alright. Lesson one:" Dabi growled, holding up his hand and lifting a pointer finger. He lifted his lip, revealing a single fang. His entire posture changed slightly, losing it's standoff-ish edge and seeming slightly more neutral. "This is important in body language when near other zombies."

Deku paused, staring blankly at Dabi. After a long moment, he asked, "B-but... what does it mean?"

"Guess." Dabi growled.

Deku blinked, slightly startled by Dabi's blunt teaching method. He tilted his head, subconsciously bringing his hand towards his face and tapping his chin thoughtfully. The pose didn't seem submissive, nor was it hostile, but there was an underlying threat of attack that he could vaguely sense. Almost like a warning.

He stifled a yawn, which earned a low giggle from Toga. "You don't have to be so worried about it!"

"Hm?" Deku mumbled absentmindedly.

"Zombies naturally yawn more when stressed. Our body language is a lot like wolf and dog body language." Toga explained.

Deku paused, processing the information for a moment. _Wait... if our body language is like wolves- THAT'S IT!_

"Finally figured it out?" Toga asked, wincing slightly at Deku's loud yell.

He blushed slightly, embarrassed that he kept muttering so much. "W-well, I think it's like a- uh, a warning. It's like when two wolves meet and one is trying to say they aren't a threat, but will be if attacked."

Dabi nodded silently, immediately dropping the fake body language. "Correct, but too slow. If I was a feral, I would've attacked you seven times by now." He growled, "Pay attention to your own body language."

"But what if you were a human?" Deku asked hesitantly.

"Then I'd be using a completely different body language." Dabi replied bitingly.

"Oh." Deku mumbled, a small heat coming to his face at his ignorance.

"Try again. Pretend I'm a feral."

We practiced for quite some time after that. With Dabi reacting just as a feral would, I ended getting the crap kicked out of me. It wasn't as bad as Monoma. He was surprisingly gentle with my bruises, and would immediately stop fighting if it seemed like I was hurt. Toga jumped in with a helpful tip every so often, but for the most part, she stood to the side and let Dabi do the teaching.

Despite how strange Dabi's teaching style was, I learned quite a lot. I began suppressing my yawns, as yawning can be taken as a sign of weakness from a feral's prospective. With luck, I could've been with a feral and not get attacked for maybe five minutes. Eventually Dabi seemed to realize that the moon was beginning to rise in the sky, and he ended the lesson. After a curt warning to try to practice telling apart scents for the next lesson, he disappeared among the shadows of the forest, closely followed by Toga.

As I snuck back into the stronghold, I couldn't help but think that my life was finally beginning looking up.

And I was right. At least, for the time being.

* * *

 **Author's Note**

Okay, I swear I tried to stay with the update schedule. Some personal stuff came up and I was busy for a while, and I am really sorry that I missed an update! Anyways, I'm back, and alive!

Also have my tumblr: (Fill in the.s with a .): .com


	14. The New Kid

**Author's Note**

Hello. I am alive. Just kidding, I'm dead inside. School has really been in my face lately, so I have a lot less time to write. Nevertheless, here's another chapter. Hope you enjoy!

* * *

Deku's chest heaved as the smell of sweat and leaves mingled in his nose.

"Really? You're tired already?" Dabi asked, his tone mildly annoyed.

"We've been sparring," Deku panted, "For two hours."

"Exactly. Not that hard." He said, smirking.

Deku only shot him a glare in response.

"Take it easy on him, Dabi." Toga giggled. "Not everyone is as stubborn as you."

Dabi snorted, looking almost bored. "Alright, alright. We'll take a break then."

Deku threw a nod of appreciation in Dabi's direction, before dragging himself upward into a sitting position to grab his water bottle. Flicking the cap open, he turned it upside-down and began chugging the scarlet red liquid within.

After draining the entire bottle, he set it down with a sharp, echoing thunk.

Deku flinched at his accidental loudness as the sound rung in his ears. As his breathing began to slow, he strained his ears to listen to the forest around him. Nothing was of much interest. Just the usual birdsong, squirrel chatter, and the occasional footfall of a larger animal, such as a fox or badger.

Toga stretched, causing a multitude of leaves and twigs to crackle beneath her feet. After letting loose a relaxed yawn, she tilted her head at Deku. "Up for some tracking?" She asked, gesturing to the beckoning forest around them.

Deku shrugged, then paused for a moment, staring off into the brush. "I was actually wanting to ask you guys a question." He mumbled.

"Ask away!" Toga beamed. On her side, Dabi just swayed his hand, in a silent, "Go ahead."

"Well... you have heard about that one attack that happened before you guys came, right?"

"Kinda hard to miss." Dabi drawled, his voice holding a sarcastic snap to it.

"Heh, yeah..." Deku mumbled awkwardly, trying not to cringe. "It's just that there was a guy there. He was, uh- how do I put this... he lead the attack but it seemed like more than that." The mumbling began to grow quicker as Deku's musings began to break through. "I mean, he could control ferals. They did what they were ordered with no hesitation, no confusion, nothing. And they were surrounded by people for a solid thirty seconds, and just sat there until he ordered them to attack. How is that possible? Aren't ferals only driven by their bloodlust? Could we-"

"Slow down, midget." Dabi grumbled, rubbing his eyes tiredly. Deku's mouth flew closed.

"First of all, ferals aren't only driven by bloodlust. They're driven by instincts. Their instincts probably told them to follow that guy because he was the leader. The alpha." Dabi began, quickly getting interrupted by Toga.

"The alpha is the strongest! The biggest, baddest one in the entire pack!" She beamed.

Deku blinked. "The... pack?" He asked. The phrase seemed oddly familiar, as if he had heard it before, but perhaps not verbally.

"Yeah. Like what you call a group of wolves." Toga said, shrugging.

"So... zombie instincts work through pack dynamic? I wonder if this is why it's easier to fight with you guys without my instincts freaking out. Can I get my instincts to recognize humans as a part of my pack? Maybe I've already done that... Is that how I can control my instincts? Perhaps-" Deku rambled quickly, but he froze mid-sentence. "Sorry, rambling again." He apologized, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

Dabi gave a long, low sound that seemed to be a mix between a sigh and a groan. "You don't even know about packs? No wonder you're so clueless about zombies." He grumbled, pinching his nose in between his fingers.

"So... answers, maybe?" Deku asked sheepishly.

"Yes, your instincts probably recognize us as part of your pack. Yes, you can get your instincts to recognize humans as a part of your pack, though it takes a lot more effort. You would probably get better at controlling your instincts if you started thinking in the pack mentality." Dabi said, breezing through Deku's questions as quickly as possible.

As Deku opened his mouth to launch out another tirade or questions, Toga spoke up. "Y'now, you should probably get back to base. It's gettin' pretty late." She said, pointing to the moon, which was rising ever higher in the sky.

"Oh, right. That." Deku glanced in the direction of the stronghold. "Yeah, I probably should. See you guys tomorrow, I guess." He said.

Deku turned and jogged towards the wall of the stronghold, automatically jumping and clambering up a tree leaning on it. He soon neared the top, and dropped off of a few branches that drooped over the side of the fence. After landing with a soft thump, he headed towards the big house. Deku grinned as he hopped onto the side of the wall, climbing from windowsill to windowsill as if it was nothing. He had always loved climbing, even as a little kid, but as a zombie, the experience was enhanced tenfold. He could smell every small scent on the wind that blew by his head and hear every chirp of the birds flying nearby. Eventually, he reached the window to his room, which was always kept unlocked.

Sliding it open, he slunk inside, only to be greeted by Kacchan's tired grumble. "Why'd you climb up the freaking wall?" His red eyes gleamed at him from his spot on the top bunk.

"It's faster and stealthier than walking through the front door."

Kacchan stayed silent for a long moment, perhaps thinking over his answer. It was either that, or debating the best way to call Deku an idiot without waking anyone up.

"There's a thing called the fucking back door."

The latter it was.

"Yeah, but it would look really suspicious to go out of my way to go through the back door in the middle of the night."

"I think it looks a lot more suspicious to get caught reenacting a spiderman movie."

Deku sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly. "Fine, next time I'll break down the door on my way in." He grumbled, flopping face-first onto his bunk underneath Kacchan's. He half expected Kacchan to make some comment about how he wasn't going to change, but Deku was either too tired to hear it, or Kacchan said nothing at all.

Regardless, he was snoring in seconds.

* * *

Deku stretched, yawning loudly, as he headed towards the cafeteria. Normally he would avoid being out in the open, especially when he was surrounded by this many people, but Uraraka and Iida managed to drag him out for lunch. Not that he would be eating anything aside from peanut butter.

To his left, Iida was telling Deku about how he should get out more, using his signature choppy hand gestures. Uraraka, to his right, was content to listen, though, she did chime in every few seconds.

Keeping up with their conversation was exhausting. The topic changed far too fast, before Deku could get a word in edgewise, and Uraraka kept saying she was going to, "Get him out of his shell," Which sounded mildly threatening.

It was still relatively nice to hang out with them. After all, he didn't have that much human contact at the time. Well, not counting Monoma.

As Iida began on the rules about the chicken coop care and how someone kept giving them too much feed, a shrill voice met Deku's ears. He paused for a moment, tilting his head in the direction of the sound. Iida and Uraraka stopped in their tracks, giving him curious looks. He didn't say a word, only waving his hand for the, to follow him, and silently walking down the hallway into the cafeteria.

"Take it back, you moron!" The shrill voice screamed. It was distinctly childlike, but sounded far more serious than any child had business being.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to offend! I just meant that it's really terrible that... that happened to Ragdoll, and-" Definitely someone Deku knew, but he couldn't quite place his finger on it.

"Her name was Tomoko!" The voice cried.

"It's terrible that that happened to Tomoko! I really didn't mean anything by it, it's just that she was such an accomplished hero, it's really sad!" The second voice yelped, whom Deku decided had to be Denki.

At the same time, a calming voice spoke, trying to soothe the first voice. "He really didn't-" She was cut off as the sound of hurried footfalls cut through the air.

"Just leave me alone!" The child cried, strangled sobs breaking his voice.

"Kota-" The calmer voice said softly, trying in vain to call him back.

"Don't worry, Mandalay. Kota knows how to take care of himself., he'll be fine." A fourth voice chimed in. A sigh followed, "And I doubt we could find him at this point anyway. He has a knack for disappearing."

At this moment, the trio rounded the corner to the cafeteria. Blinking, Deku took in the scene.

There was a small crowd near the entrance to the building. One of them was kneeling on the ground, wiping away the tears that threatened to spill out of the corners of her eyes. Her hair was chocolate brown, fitted in a bob around her head. She wore a dark purple sweater, which was ripped and old, and seemingly newer blue jeans.

Behind her stood two figures. One was another woman, with long blonde hair. Her forest green skirt swayed lightly as she placed a comforting hand on the brown haired woman's shoulder.

The second figure stepped towards the exit, but paused, as if he didn't know exactly what to do. He seemed to want to follow the child, whose footfalls Deku could still hear. He was large, with a muscular build that showed through the pink t-shirt he was wearing. All three of them had torn, dirtied clothes, though, this was hardly a surprise in the middle of the zombie apocalypse.

To the left of the trio stood Denki, who was sweating bullets. He scratched the back of his neck nervously, gulping softly. "I'm really sorry! I didn't mean to-"

"You didn't mean anything by it." The muscular man said consolingly. "Kota just has..." He sighed, searching for the right words, "History."

"Oh... but- uh, yeah. Sorry for your loss." Denki mumbled, bowing quickly. "I- er, assume you want to skip the tour?"

"Probably would be for the best." He answered, nodding. "Come on Shino, we'll all feel better after a good rest." The man said softly, grabbing the brown haired woman's hand and gently lifting her upwards, leading her towards the rooms.

He lead them past Deku and his friends. Deku blinked at them, squinting slightly. They seemed strangely familiar, but he couldn't tell exactly why. Tilting his head, he sniffed the air. Their scents weren't ringing any bells either.

Temporarily forgetting about his friends, he walked up to Denki. "What happened?"

Denki jumped, spinning around to face Deku faster than a speeding Tenya. "Ack! Don't startle me like that!" He yelped. Apparently Deku was getting better at this whole stealth thing.

Deku smiled mischievously. "I make no promises." He teased. The smile fell quickly, "But seriously, what happened?"

Denki stiffened. "I don't really know exactly what happened, but Tokayami told me to give these new people the tour. They mentioned that they were pro heroes, and I asked which pros they were, and they said they were the pussycats." He began, speaking almost too fast to be understood.

"The pussycats?!" Deku gasped, wide eyed. Immediately he dove into a fanboy rant about how they were super successful heroes. It took Iida grabbing his shoulder and shaking him to get him out of it. "Ah, sorry." Deku mumbled sheepishly, "Continue."

"Well, I asked why there were only three of them, since the pussycats are a four person team. They told me that Ragdoll was killed in a zombie attack. I said that was terrible because she was such an amazing hero. The kid flipped out on me and ran away." Denki explained. "No clue where he went."

Deku sniffed the air. He caught a number of sweet scents, but one had a strange edge to it. Almost wet. Like the smell of a misty morning. Along with it, he scented something that he usually only noticed on Kacchan. The burning smell of anger.

Zombies could scent certain emotions. Deku assumed this was because of adrenaline, or something of the like. Fear and anger were the easiest to smell, something he had learned in one of his numerous lessons with Dabi and Toga.

"He did go out this way, right?" Deku asked, pointing to the main exit of the facility, where he thought the scent trail led.

Denki nodded.

"I could probably track him." Deku said. "I mean, I've never really tracked a person before, but it can't be that much harder than tracking a rabbit." _Or a zombie._ He added silently, remembering training sessions with Dabi and Toga. They often ended up playing a zombie version of hide and seek, though, there were a lot more stealth attacks than in a regular game of hide and seek.

Denki blinked. "Right. That." He mumbled. "Y'now, sometimes I forget you're a zombie."

 _That makes one of us._ Deku thought, a pang of annoyance stabbing. Pushing it to the back of his mind, he asked, "So, should I follow him?"

"I dunno. The Pussycats seemed pretty unconcerned, but better safe than sorry, I guess." Denki said, shrugging noncommittally.

Deku gave a curt nod. He turned to Uraraka and Iida, "Sorry. I'll hang out with you tomorrow" He said, cringing inwardly. Without waiting for a response, Deku whirled on his heels and jogged out of the building, nose locked on to Kota's scent.

As he left, Uraraka sighed. "There he goes again..." She mumbled quietly. "Feels like he's always on the run these days."

Iida shrugged halfheartedly. "I'm sure he's just busy. Think of all the new protocols they made just for him to follow!"

Uraraka giggled, smiling sheepishly. "Yeah, I'm sure that's it.." She said, humoring Iida. She trailed off, her smile drooping slightly. "Just busy."


	15. ANOUNCMENT: I'm sorry

Hi.

I'm really sorry, and I know this is sudden, but I'm leaving fanfiction dot net. The glitches have just driven me up the wall, and I can't take it anymore. I'm abandoning this account and heading to AO3. My username is TinyTiger28 there too.

Unfortunately, I'm also abandoning most of the fics I have here too. I might do a rewrite of this someday, but until then, this is the end. I am extremely sorry, but I've lost my fire for most of the fics on here, and I can't force myself to write things I don't want to write and still make good content.

If you're interested in what I write, great, follow me to AO3 and I'll see you there. If not, I completely understand, and it's been a fun time, and I'm sorry it's ending this way. I am deeply sorry for doing this, but what has to be done has to be done.


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